Scientists Spot Unique Creature That Appears To Be Wearing Goggles in the Depths of Pacific Ocean

Deep beneath the drift currents of the North Pacific Ocean, where waves are slumbering in silent tranquillity, there are fish that gaze upwards through their giant, glassy eyes that resemble mesmerizing cobalt blue orbs or a pair of bluish goggles. Named after their large eyes that give them the appearance of an owl, these fish glide untamed in the shadowy twilight zone of the ocean. A rare video published in January 2025 by Monterey Bay Aquarium (@MBARInews) shows a brown-belled owlfish swimming in the dark depths of the wild.

The otherworldly video shows a chocolate-brown-colored fish darting blissfully in the deep ocean while its goggle-shaped eyes stick out from the dark, offering a glint of light. “The owlfish, named for the size of its large eyes relative to its head, lives throughout the North Pacific. These species are in the family Bathylagidae and are relatively common in the deep sea,” MBARI described in the video’s caption. They described that the deep-sea resident can be found throughout the North Pacific, sometimes venturing as deep as 6,000 meters (19,685 feet). “In Monterey Bay, we observe these fish between a few hundred meters to over 2,000 meters (6,560 feet),” said the organization.

The unusual eyes of an owlfish are made for the darkness. With these big googly eyes, they make the most of what little light reaches the deep sea to scour food in the dark. Most of their lifetime, they stay in the dark, away from daylight. “They use those big eyes to pick up the faintest glimmers of bioluminescence in the darkness of the deep, as many of its prey items like shrimp and jellies can make their own light,” MBARI explained in a comment.

MBARI also posted a compilation of owlfish footage with close-up shots in an Instagram reel. In the comments, @royreed7 pointed out how this owlfish looks like a “cousin of the barreleye fish,” referring to another deep-sea fish that features goggles-like eyes. Many people, including @001herald, wondered, “Why are the scales so big?” Their big scales could be a survival strategy. National Geographic explained in an article that an owlfish usually defends itself from predatory attacks by “sloughing off scales and then darting away when they first feel the touch of a squid tentacle.” The outlet described this while sharing a rare fight between a giant squid and an owlfish, also documented by MBARI.

In a video, MBARI scientists captured the writhing battle between the two animals as the vulnerable owlfish struggled to free itself from the squid’s grasp. “The squid struggled with the fish in its grasp, until it could successfully cut through the animal’s spinal cord with its sharp beak,” Bruce Robison, a senior scientist at MBARI who narrated the video of the fight, described the scene. “These remarkable images show a struggle for survival never before seen by human observers,” he said. The fight happened 1,475 feet (450 meters) below California’s Monterey Bay.

The scientific name of an owlfish is Pseudobathylagus milleri, also called the stout blacksmelt. In a Reddit repost of MBARI’s owlfish footage, u/SimplyTereza described the fish with a comment, “It looks like it's floating out in the space.” u/MamaSitas10 said, “it looks like a fish from Dr. Seuss!” While some find this goggle-eyed fish creepy, others find it mesmerizing. Creepy or not, the fish remains a majestic guardian of the dark depths where humans can’t survive.