By Andy Lamb
Image courtesy of the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility and the University of Washington
Ed McNicol has a job that most of us who venture underwater can only dream about – this certainly includes yours truly. Ed is a contractor working as the Video Project Manager for the University of Washington School of Oceanography. In his role, he works with high-definition video from a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). In the summer of 2011, Ed worked with the team from the Canadian Scientific Submersible Facility in Victoria, BC. There, while aboard the Research Vessel Thompson and deploying the Remotely Operated Platform for Ocean Sciences (ROPOS), he recorded a video clip of an unusual fish (photo#1 is a frame from the video). The exploration event occurred at 45 degrees 55 minutes north and 129 degrees 59 minutes west, well off the outer coast of Vancouver Island. The fish was living at the incredible depth of 1,525m (5,033 ft.)!
An active scuba diver and divemaster, Ed had tentatively identified this creature as a blob sculpin Psychrolutes phrictus. And he was correct. This unusual deepwater denizen was only discovered in 1978. What little is known about it has resulted from submersible observations and deep water trawling activities that have become more common in recent years. This “goliath” of a sculpin grows to 28 in (70cm) and 21 lb. (9.5kg) but has not been found shallower than 1,200 ft (366m).
Even the most adventurous techie diver has no chance for an encounter. The most similar fish that the average diver might see is the tiny tadpole sculpin Psychrolutes paradoxus (page 233, in Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest). By comparison however, the blob sculpin would appear to be “on steroids”. For those of you interested in what Ed and his team are up to, consult www.ooi.washington.edu and www.ropos.com. There are more amazing deep water creatures as well as information on the fascinating technology utilized in the research program that can be accessed at this site.
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