The head of a spotted cusk eel sticking up out of sand with the rest of its body submerged. A rock covered with pink algae is behind it in the aquarium

A spotted cusk-eel submerged in sand at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

#FishyFriday #Fish #Ophidiidae #BonyFish #Photography #CuskEel #MBARI #California

Excited to come across this rare species of larval cusk eel last week! Just under two inches.
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#cuskeel #deepwater #deepwaterfish #ophidiidae #neobythitinae #rarefish #blackwater #blackwaterdiving #blackwaterphotography #scubadiving #underwater #ocean #scuba #diving #gug #chrisgug #gugunderwater

Love the way this super cute #cuskeel curls its tail around its body. While observing it, it often switches from tail-left to tail-right, but pretty much never uncurls unless it goes for a short burst of speed, then resumes the curled pose.
TL ~1cm
#ophidiidae #blackwater

#NewSpeciesAlert Revision of the ‘dragon-head’ #CuskEels of the genus 𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑠 (Teleostei: #Ophidiidae), with description of eight new species and one new genus, published in @Zootaxa. #ichthyology #DeepSea
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