Vaillant’s Dragonfish

Fish > Dragonfish

Vaillant’s Dragonfish (Bathophilus vaillanti) is an elusive, predatory deep-sea fish belonging to the family Stomiidae (barbeled dragonfishes), inhabiting the perpetual darkness of the central Atlantic Ocean at depths ranging from 400 down to over 2,000 meters....

Garradunga Blood Tomato

Plants > Nightshades

The Garradunga Blood Tomato (Solanum ossicruentum) is an extraordinary, morphologically unique wild bush tomato species endemic to the rugged red sandstone canyons of the East Kimberley region in tropical northwestern Australia. Officially described in 2016 following...

Ping-Pong Tree Sponge

Invertebrates > Carnivorous Sponges

The Ping-Pong Tree Sponge (Chondrocladia lampadiglobus) is one of the most surreal, otherworldly organisms dwelling in the deep abyss. Discovered along the East Pacific Rise at depths exceeding 2,600 meters (8,500 feet), this carnivorous demosponge looks precisely...

Atacama Blue Snailfish

Fish > Snailfishes

The Atacama Blue Snailfish (Paraliparis selti), discovered in 2022 during high-tech robotic lander expeditions into the abyssal Atacama Trench off the coast of northern Chile and Peru, is an astonishing hadal vertebrate thriving at crushing depths exceeding 6,000 to...

Hog-nosed Shrew Rat

Mammals > Rodents

The Hog-nosed Shrew Rat (Hyorhinomys stuempkei) is one of the most astonishing mammalian evolutionary discoveries of the 21st century. Discovered in 2013 on the misty, cloud-enclosed slopes of Mount Dako in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, this bizarre murine rodent...