Image: Red and Black Flabby Whalefish Found in Ocean Depths

CREDIT: NIWA View full size image

This odd-looking fish looks like it was covered in black goo but is actually a rare creature found at the bottom of the New Zealand ocean floor. New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) worked with the research vessel Tangaroa to explore 2,730 meters near the north Chatham Rise. The image above is of a flabby whalefish, a creature that lives in lightless depths of the ocean. It's bright coloring is useless so far below the ocean as light does not penetrate deep enough to see red or brownish colors. Animals which live in lightless areas all look to be the same color, black.

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