Ever seen deep sea fish on a dive?

[Kittihawk]

Many deep sea fish come shallower than we think - especially at night. Diving in Songefjord, Norway, there are sometimes 'deep sea' fish up shallow, such as big-eyed Chimaera (ratfish or ghost sharks - a type of deep sea shark/ray) and also velvet bellied dogfish (also called purple bellied sharks) seen at night above 50M.

Deep stuff comes shallow at night, and in some places in the world deep cold-water coral reefs are surprisingly near the shallows, making them potentially accessible by divers.

I was wondering whether anyone has ever seen deep sea species on an ordinary (night) dive - or knows of places where the deep cold-water coral reefs are unusually near the surface?

Here is a fang toothed fish I filmed that you would not expect to see in shallow water (or has anyone? ) - caught in a trawl net and filmed in a tank:

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I found a dead Vampire squid once. They live in 600-900 meters. I was surprised it hadn't been eaten before it reached the surface.

 

[Diver0001]

A saw a nautilus once while snorkeling in the Indian Ocean off the southern tip of India. The water wasn't particularly cool so you would never have expected it. In places like this they normally hang out in at least 100m of water.

*I* was just about jumping out of my skin from the excitement. My (future) wife, who I had only recently met at that point yawned and asked if we could go back because she was hungry. Then she got leg cramps and I had to tow her back on top of her yawning at a nautilus.

I'll never forget that. She never did learn how to dive and I didn't push it. She isn't interested in the technical aspects or the gear, she doesn't like big fish, dark or turbid water and while she likes snorkeling in aquarium-like conditions and looking at the little stuff her "OMG-I-CAN'T-BELIEVE-I'M-SEEING-THIS" button malfunctions (imho).... so I dive and she tells me to go diving so I'm not driving her crazy.

R..

 

[macado]

Not strictly a deep water fish but I've seen goosefish out in Stellwagen Bank. They usually live in deeper waters.

Also blue sharks and spiney dogfish (dogfish can be found pretty shallow so probably doesnt count)

 

[smellzlikefish]

I do a few blackwater dives every week out of Kona and we commonly see vertically migrating animals that come from thousands of feet down. I covered a few of the young ones in this article (Black-Water Photo Series: Baby Sea Freaks). We have also seen swordfish, snake mackerels, exotic squids such as Thysanoteuthis rhombus, and lots of others.

 

[klausi]

Thanks for sharing, fantastic images!

I do a few blackwater dives every week out of Kona and we commonly see vertically migrating animals that come from thousands of feet down. I covered a few of the young ones in this article (Black-Water Photo Series: Baby Sea Freaks). We have also seen swordfish, snake mackerels, exotic squids such as Thysanoteuthis rhombus, and lots of others.