The untouchable Bathysphere fish are an unknown, possibly extinct collection of fishes that lived off the coast of the Bermuda, only observed in 1932.
(Fig. 1-5: portraits of the untouchable fish created by Else Bostelmann for Beebe.)
Description[]
Five-lined constellation fish[]
The five-lined constellation fish (Bathysidus pentagrammus) is the first of the proposed fish spotted by American naturalist William Beebe in 1932 in the unmanned deep sea marine craft; the Bathysphere. As Beebe describes, at a fee of 1900 feet, a school of fish began to pass the vessel. Yelling for the descent to stop, he describes a discoidal fish with a large continuous vertical fin, a large eye, a medium mouth, small pectoral fins and brown-ish skin. He says they swung the small craft's light beam towards the fish, revealing five lines of photophores. He notes one equatorial and two curved lines above and below the middle row. The bioluminescence is a pale yellow, lined with light blue rings and a middle semicircle of bright purple.
| “ | A small school of luminous fish had just passed, when, fortunately at a moment of suspension, came a new and gorgeous creature. I yelled for continuance of the stop, which was at 1900 feet, and began to absorb what I saw; a fish almost round, with long, moderately high, continuous, vertical fins; a big eye, medium mouth, and small pectoral fins. The skin was decidedly brownish. We swung around a few degrees to port, bringing the fish into the dark blue penumbra of the beam, and then I saw its real beauty. Along the sides of the body were five unbelievably beautiful lines of light, one equatorial, with two curved ones above and two below. Each line was composed of a series of large, pale yellow lights, and every one of these was surrounded by a semicircle of very small, but intensely purple photophores.
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- —The first half of Beebe's writings.
In the second half of his writings, he notes that the single fish slowly turns it's body, revealing a slender profile. He states the fish bears similarities with Chaetodon and Acanthuris, and he says he might classify the fish as either, but it was certainly not, and that bioluminescence was an adaptation to depth living [1].
| “ | The fish turned slowly and, head on, showed a narrow profile. If It were at the surface and without lights I should, without question, have called it a butterflyfish (Chaetodon) or a surgeonfish (Acanthuris). But this glowing creature was assuredly neither, unless a distant relation, adapted for life at three hundred fathoms. My name for it is Bathysidus pentagrammus, the Five-lined Constellation fish. In my memory it will live throughout the rest of my life as one of the loveliest things I have ever seen.
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- —The second half of Beebe's writings.
Pallid sailfin[]
The pallid sailfin (Bathyembryx istiophasma; approx. "it comes from deep in the abyss and swims with ghostly sails") is a fish observed in 1932 off-the-coast of Bermuda by American naturalist William Beebe in the Bathysphere. Beebe writes:
| “ | Finally, without my seeing how it got there, a large fish swung suspended, half in, half out of the beam. It was poised with only a slow waving of fins. I saw it was something wholly unknown [...] But all this time I sat absorbing the fish from head to tail through the wordless, short-circuiting of sight, later to be materialized into spoken and written words, and finally into a painting dictated by what I had seen through the clear quartz. [...] The strange fish was at least two feet in length, wholly without lights or luminosity, with a small eye and good-sized mouth. Later, when it shifted a little backwards I saw a long, rather wide, but evidently filamentous pectoral fin. The two most unusual things were first, the color, which, in the light, was an unpleasant pale, olivedrab, the hue of water-soaked flesh, an unhealthy buff. It was a color worthy of these black depths, like the sickly sprouts of plants in a cellar. Another strange thing was its almost tailless condition, the caudal fin being reduced to a tiny knob or button, while the vertical fins, taking its place, rose high above and stretched far beneath the body, these fins also being colorless. I missed its pelvic fins and its teeth, if it had any, while such things as nostrils and ray counts were, of course, out of the question. [...] There is a small family of deep-sea fish known as Cetovumidae [typo; Cetomimidae[2]], and somewhere in or close to this the strange apparition belongs. Only three species are known, and only twenty-four individuals have so far been captured, sixteen of which have been in our own deep nets drawn through these very waters. I have called the fish we saw the Pallid Sailfin, and am naming it Bathyembryx istiophasma, which is a Grecian way of saying that it comes from deep in the abyss and swims with ghostly sails. [...] Although I had already seen many deep-sea forms on this dive, yet here was one larger than any we had ever taken in nets. The Sailfin was alive, quiet, watching our strange machine, apparently oblivious that the hinder half of its body was bathed in a strange luminosity. Preeminently, however, it typified the justification of the money, time, trouble, and worry devoted to bringing the bathysphere to its present efficiency. Amid nameless sparks, unexplained luminous explosions, abortive glimpses of strange organisms, there came, now and then, adequate opportunity to add a definite new fish or other creature to our knowledge of the life of the deep sea. At the possible risk of cumbering taxonomy with a nomen nudum, I have chosen to give definite names to a very few of these clearly seen fish, the physical type of which must, for a time, be represented by a drawing, made under my direction, with only the characters of which I am certain. With no visible increase of fin vibration, my Pallid Sailfin moved into outer darkness, and when I had finished telephoning the last details I ordered a further descent. This entire volume would not contain the detailed recital of even a fraction of all the impressive sights and forms I saw, and nothing at these depths can be spoken of without superlatives.
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- —Beebe's writings
He views a large fish suspended halfway in the Bathysphere's light, It's fins waved slowly, about 2 feet in length, lacking bioluminescence, had a small eye and a "good-sized" mouth. When the fish shifts, Beebe spots a long and wide filamentous pectoral fin. In the light, the animal's skin is a pale olive colour. He further notes the lack of a tail, reduced to a small nub, with the pectoral fins in their place and stretching far upwards and colourless. The naturalist missed if the animal had teeth or pelvic fins, stating that ray counting and nostrils were "out of the question". He places this fish in, or close to, a small group of depth-dwelling fishes "cetovumidce" (typo, unknown origin). The fish glides into the dark, with no noted increase in vibrations in their fins. This sighting was at a depth of 1500 feet, and once done recording the specimen, ordered for the craft to descend. After seeing the abyssal rainbow gar at a depth of 2500 feet, Beebe believes a sighting of another fish:
| “ | I alternated with Mr. Barton's camera at the window and there were hardly any seconds without lights or definite organisms coming into view. In one period of this duration, chosen at random, I counted 46 lights, ten of which were of unusual size, most of them pale yellow, but a few bluish. The sight I enjoyed most was a momentary glimpse of what I am certain was the same, or another, Pallid Sailfin. In all this vast extent in three dimensions, of black water, the chance of confirming at a wholly different depth a new observation made my satisfaction complete.
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- —Beebe, now at 2500 feet
Beebe thinks he catches a glimpse at a second, if not the same, individual of pallid sailfin. This is difficult to confirm [3].
Abyssal rainbow gar[]
The abyssal rainbow gar (no genus or species assigned) is a fish observed in the Bathysphere by American naturalist William Beebe in 1932, of the coast of Bermuda. The fish is possibly a needlefish or a garfish. Of all fish observed by Beebe, the abyssal rainbow gar was the only to not be given a scientific name. At 2500 feet, at 11:17, Beebe recalls:
| “ | At 11:17 o'clock I turned the light on suddenly, and saw a strange quartet of fish to which I have not been able to fit genus or family. Shape, size, color, and one fin I saw clearly, but Abyssal Rainbow Gars is as far as I dare go, and they may be anything but gars. About four inches over all, they were slender and stiff with long, sharply pointed jaws. They were balanced in the center of the electric ray when it was first turned on, and the unheard-of glare affected them not at all. There they stood, for they were almost upright, and I could see only a slight fanning with a dorsal fin. Keeping equal distances apart, and maintaining their upright pose, they swam slowly into the uttermost dark. The amazing thing about them was their unexpected pattern and color. The jaws and head were brilliant scarlet, which, back of the gills, changed abruptly into a light but strong blue and this merged insensibly into clear yellow on the posterior body and tail. Unless in the light of some other fish, or in my electric path, their colors could never have been visible, and were assuredly useless by-products.
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- —Beebe's writings
The light of the Bathysphere. He spots four fish, of which he could not assign classification. They stood nearly upright, four inches tall, and are "anything but gars". They levitated in the center of the attached lamp, not affected by the light. He observes a slight fanning in the animal's dorsal fin. He states all four fish retained their positions equal spaces apart, slowly swimming away. They were elongate, slender, with pointed jaws and stiffly extended. Jaws and head are a bright scarlet, which abruptly change to a a bright-light blue at the gills, which fades into a strong yellow at the posterior end of the body, including the tail. Beebe finishes his writings questioning why they had been so bright, since, without the electric lamp, would not have been seen, adding that it may have been a useless by-product of evolution [4].
Giant dragonfish[]
The giant dragonfish (Bathysphaera intacta; "untouchable Bathysphere fish") is a proposed fish species observed by American naturalist William Beebe in the 1932 Bathysphere dive of the coast of Bermuda. At a depth of 2100 feet, two fish 6-8 feet away slowly swim. This is "the most exciting experience of the whole dive", according to Beebe, he writes:
| “ | Several minutes later, at 2100 feet, I had the most exciting experience of the whole dive. Two fish went very slowly by, not more than six or eight feet away, each of which was at least six feet in length. They were of the general shape of large barracudas, but with shorter jaws which were kept wide open all the time I watched them. A single line of strong lights, pale bluish, was strung down the body. The usual second line was quite absent. The eyes were very large, even for the great length of the fish. The undershot jaw was armed with numerous fangs which were illumined either by mucus or indirect internal lights. [...] Vertical fins well back were one of the characters which placed it among the sea-dragons, Melanostomiatids, and were clearly seen when the fish passed through the beam. There were two long tentacles, hanging down from the body, each tipped with a pair of separate, luminous bodies, the upper reddish, the lower one blue. These twitched and jerked along beneath the fish, one undoubtedly arising from the chin, and the other far back near the tail. I could see neither the stem of the tentacles nor any paired fins, although both were certainly present. This is the fish I subsequently named Bathysphaera intacta, the Untouchable Bathysphere Fish.
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- —Beebe's entry on the "dragonfish"
Each was about 6 feet in length, generally shaped like a barracuda, with shorter jaws left open for the entire observation. A single row of light blue-ish lights lined each side of the fish. The fishes eyes were large cmpared with body size, and an underbite possessing many fangs, illuminated by a type of mucus or internal bioluminescence. According to him, the far-placed vertical fins allowed him to classify them as melanostomidae. Two elongated appendages hung from the body, each tipped with bulbs. The farthest reddish and the lowest blue. They are noted to have twitched beneath the fish, one from the mandible and the other back-by the tail. Beebe observed no stem or paired fins, although they were likely present [5].
Three-starred anglerfish[]
The three-starred anglerfish (Bathyceratias trilynchus) is a possible fish species recorded on the 1932 Bathysphere diving expedition by American naturalist William Beebe. About one minute before viewing the pallid sailfin a second time, Beebe spots a strange fish, writing:
| “ | One minute later, at 2470 feet, all my temporarily relaxed attention was aroused and focused on another splendid piece of luck. A tie rope had to be cut and in this brief interval of suspension, extended by my hurried order, a new anglerfish came out of all the ocean and hesitated long enough close to my window for me to make out its dominant characters. I am calling it the Three-starred Anglerfish, Bathyceratias trilynchnus. It was close in many respects to the well-known genera Ceratias and Cryptosparas, but the flattened angle of the mouth and the short, even teeth were quite different. It was six inches long, typically oval in outline, black, and with small eye. The fin rays were usual except that it had three tall tentacles or illicia, each tipped with a strong, pale yellow light organ. The light was clearly reflected on the upper side of the fish. In front of the dorsal fin were two pear-shaped organs exactly like those of the common Cryptosparas. The paired fins escaped me. No pioneer, peering at a Martian landscape, could ever have a greater thrill than did I at such an opportunity
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- —Beebe on the three-starred anglerfish
At a depth of 2470 feet, the suspended Bathysphere allowed Beebe to observe a single anglerfish come into view. It appears close to the extant genera Ceratias and Cryptopsaras, with a flattened mouth, short even teeth. The individual was six inches long, with an oval outline, black colouration and a small eye. Fins are typical, despite three unusual illicia tipped with a strong but pale yellow bulb. This light reflects from the upper angle of the fish. In front of these, two pear-shaped organs sit, like to common Cryptopsaras. Beebe does not record paired fins [6].
Synonyms[]
Beebe in the Bathysphere.
It is possible the features Beebe observes in all these fish are mistaken characteristics from other deep-sea fauna. For example, the rhomboidal tail with fins in the pallid sailfin could be the mistaken mantle of a depth-bound squid species, the black (translucent?) body and bioluminescent rows of the five-lined constellation fish be a mistaken comb jelly, known already to science or even some features were misinterpreted by Beebe. The air of the Bathysphere is noted to have had dangerous air quality, and were also susceptible to leakage and decompression. However, it is also possible these are unknown extant fish yet-to-be discovered since Beebe's expeditions. Additionally, it is also possible these species have since gone extinct since the 1930s, since humans have been making deep sea organisms extinct, presumably due to overfishing. Beebe described these fish with no adequate description and no holotype, and they are nomen nudums. All fish were written about in 1934 [7].
References[]