Tripod fish eyeballs ROV at 1443m deep

A t 1443m, this tripod fish (Bathypterois sp.) swims lazily away from the ROV, then decides to turn and have a look.

He set up shop right infront of the ROV and started filming them.

It's weird how as soon as he touched the ground the legs or whatever they are went solid, then the one behind come in and does the same.

thanks for sharing.

I had to look this up. I though it may be a new type of fish or faked. But it is real and people have known about it for years.

en.wikipedia.org...

I still think that is a very odd looking fish.

reply to post by martinkb


Never seen that before, strange looking little fella. Nice video.

He must take excellent photos with that poise

No doubt he's a cute little fellow. But look at the seafloor beneath him.
Why does he have four shadows?

Too darn cool!
You learn something every day and sometimes you get to see something new.
I got both, that rocks.

Wow! I didn't know such a critter existed! Here's another video, close up!

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
No doubt he's a cute little fellow. But look at the seafloor beneath him.
Why does he have four shadows?

The four shadows are caused by the four lights on the ROV. The lights are mounted far enough apart for each to makes it own shadow.
That is what happens when you have multiple light sources

[edit on 8/25/2010 by fixer1967]

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


Right and in both videos it is that way, seemed fake to me as if BP is trying to prove that there are still fish alive down there. If is was real then it would be dying from the lack of oxyegen and chemicals. really sad that a creature used to the deep dark twilight of the bottom of the ocean no longer is affected by the strange and obtrusive lights of the rove... Is it blinded? that is one of the symptoms of the dead and dying from the chemicals in the corexit and oil mix.

reply to post by antar


plus.....

at the end of the video where the rov's fan kick up the sand...

you can see it's all black and oily looking..BP blows...

I do not believe that this particular video was shot at the Deep Water site.

The date on the video is Feb 6, 2010.

Tripod fish:

*turns around*

Whatever you are...STOP FOLLOWING ME!!!! Sheesh!

seems like a lot of extra work to have to swim with the extra junk hanging off it,.
wonder what the reason was for that evolutionary process.

thats one of the coolest fish ive ever seen. reminds me eerily of war of the worlds and their use of the tri-pod.

Originally posted by Lil Drummerboy
seems like a lot of extra work to have to swim with the extra junk hanging off it,.
wonder what the reason was for that evolutionary process.

Just speculating here, but down deep there is not an abundance of food sources so the animals meals are probably few and far between. This adaptation allows the fish to remain stationary close to the bottom while expending very little of their precious energy. Most deep water fish don't chase prey - they wait for the prey to come to them.

reply to post by ladyinwaiting


4 shadows = 4 lights on the ROV

reply to post by baddmove


It was filmed off Brazil.

archive.serpentproject.com...

Coincidentally though, these guys (SERPENT) have worked for BP.