Spiny Butterfly Ray

Fish > Sharks & Rays

The Spiny Butterfly Ray (Gymnura altavela) is a magnificent, colossal marine batoid celebrated for possessing one of the widest, most dramatically expansive wing silhouettes in the ocean realm. Resembling a gigantic underwater stealth bomber or a gigantic diamond...

Leopard Skate

Fish > Sharks & Rays

The Leopard Skate (Bathyraja panthera) is an exceptionally striking, newly described cartilaginous fish native strictly to the icy, storm-swept deep waters of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Formally described by ichthyologists in 2011, this deep-sea elasmobranch...

North Pacific Crestfish

Fish > Ray-finned Fish

The North Pacific Crestfish (Lophotus capellei), also known as the unicorn crestfish, is an extraordinary, ribbon-like deep-sea pelagic fish that roams the mysterious twilight zone of the open ocean. Resembling a creature plucked from mythological folklore, this...

Priapium Fish

Fish > Ray-finned Fish

The Priapium Fish (Phallostethus cuulong) is one of the most anatomically bizarre and evolutionary startling vertebrates on Earth. Discovered in 2012 swimming in turbid estuarine canals of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, this tiny, near-translucent freshwater fish...

Giant Hatchetfish

Fish > Deep-Sea Stomiiformes

The Giant Hatchetfish (Argyropelecus gigas) is the largest and most magnificent member of the deep-sea marine hatchetfish family Sternoptychidae, inhabiting the shadowy twilight zone of oceans circumglobally. Named for its extreme, blade-thin lateral compression that...

Wolf-trap Anglerfish

Fish > Deep-Sea Anglerfish

The Wolf-trap Anglerfish (Thaumatichthys binghami) is one of the most mechanically astonishing and bizarrely specialized ambush predators inhabiting the lightless abyssal sea floor. Belonging to the family Thaumatichthyidae (derived from Greek for ‘wonder...

Valdivia Scaleless Black Dragonfish

Fish > Dragonfish

The Valdivia Scaleless Black Dragonfish (Melanostomias valdiviae) is a sleek, terrifyingly adapted apex micropredator of the ocean’s twilight zone, belonging to the deep-sea family Stomiidae. Named in honor of the historic German deep-sea Valdivia expedition,...

Spinetooth Dreamer

Fish > Deep-Sea Anglerfish

The Spinetooth Dreamer (Oneirodes eschrichtii) is an iconic, globose deep-sea anglerfish belonging to the family Oneirodidae, inhabiting the pitch-black, freezing depths of the world’s oceans. Residing in the bathypelagic ‘midnight zone’ thousands of...

Pacamã Catfish

Fish > Catfish

The Pacamã Catfish (Lophiosilurus alexandri) is a monumental, flat-headed pseudopimelodid catfish endemic strictly to the São Francisco River basin in eastern Brazil. Recognized instantly by its grotesque, shovel-like head and enormous upward-facing crescent mouth,...

California Swellshark

Fish > Sharks & Rays

The California Swellshark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) is an enthralling, nocturnal benthic catshark native to the vibrant kelp forests and submarine rocky reefs of the northeastern Pacific coastline. Famous for its ingenious anti-predator defense mechanism, the...