Monterey Bay Aquarium researcher shares experience encountering rare deep-sea barreleye fish

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The Monterrey Bay Aquarium and a dive team experienced a rare sighting of a unique fish with a see through head, known as a barreleye fish.
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And it has only been seen by deep sea explorers a total of eight times, ever.

They spotted the fish 2,000 feet down in the Monterey Submarine Canyon, while they were in search of jellyfish.

RELATED: Rarely seen, bizarre-looking fish with transparent head spotted swimming in deep waters off CA coast

ABC7 News anchor Reggie Aqui spoke with a witness from the Monterey Bay Aquarium on our Midday Live show.
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"It's eyes are inside of its head and it's basically looking through its translucent head. So the eyes being inside of it are big part to why it's translucent. But why it's situated like that, I cant say why exactly," said Tommy Knowles, senior aquarist for the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

"There is nothing out there that looks like this animal, so even from far away we can tell what we are coming up on. And this is a rare moment in deep-sea exploration."



Barreleye fish can be found in the Pacific from Baja California to Japan.