MBARI is pleased to announce Antje Boetius as the institute’s president and CEO. A world-renowned polar and deep-sea researcher, Boetius will lead MBARI into an exciting new chapter in its work ...

Perhaps one of the most bizarre creatures ever documented off California’s coast is the Barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma). This deep-sea fish, first filmed alive by MBARI in 2004, features a ...

First discovered in 1939, scientists didn’t fully understand the barreleye’s anatomy until 2009, when researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute captured the first live footage of one ...

Barreleye fish belong to the Opisthoproctidae family of fish and were not described in the scientific literature until 1939. They are a relative of smelts and can reach around six inches in length.

MBARI receives new research shipElon Musk says he's refocusing on Tesla. Satellite images show Musk's growing business empire in Texas. Thousands of Californians just got surprisingly large ...

The barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) is known for its strange eyes and transparent dome for a head head — features that make it look more like a creature from science fiction than reality.

The barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) is known for its strange eyes and transparent dome for a head head — features that make it look more like a creature from science fiction than reality. The ...

The barreleye is typically found at depths of 2,000 to 2,600 feet (600 to 800 meters), in a region known as the mesopelagic or twilight zone. This part of the ocean is dimly lit and home to some of ...

This creepy creature, known as the barreleye fish, lives in depths of up to 1km in the northern Pacific Ocean, where the light rarely touches Credit: 2004 MBARI ...

The barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) has extremely light-sensitive eyes that can rotate within a transparent, fluid-filled shield in its head. Image credits: MBARI.

Barreleyes, often referred to as spook fish, are small deep-sea fish belonging to the family Opisthoproctidae. Scientists first captured the barreleye on video using an ROV and camera in the 1990s.