Take a meditative moment and gaze into the eyes of the deep-sea rattail fish

Meditate for a moment by gazing into the mesmerizing eyes of the deep-sea rattail fish. Rattails, or macrourids, are common throughout the world’s ocean. They are characterized by a distinctive large head and whip-like tail that tapers to a point. Big blue eyes give the rattail an edge at finding food in deep dark waters. Their keen eyesight reveals prey, like fishes and squid, darting just above the seafloor. There are over 1,000 species of rattails found worldwide, although MBARI has recorded less than 20 species during our numerous expeditions. Macrourid species are difficult to distinguish on video, so researchers often use species complexes to describe similarly-looking species. MBARI’s Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS), a software system for documenting deep-sea observations, is used to annotate all video recorded with our remotely operated vehicles. As of 2022, the VARS database contains more than eight million video annotations and includes thousands of deep-sea species. MBA