Beebe's Bathysphere Fish

originally posted September 3rd, 2024, on Cohost (RIP)

all illustrations by Else Bostelmann

From 1930-1934, American naturalist William Beebe conducted a series of deep sea dives off of Bermuda, from their base on Nonsuch Island, using a bathysphere, a primitive deep sea submersible designed by his American inventor & diver Otis Barton. During these dives, Beebe described several fish that would become known as Beebe's Abyssal Fish, five species that remain contested. These are the;

• Three-starred Anglerfish (Bathyceratias trilynchus)
• Giant Dragonfish (Bathysphaera intacta)
• Abyssal Rainbow Gar
• Five-lined constellationfish (Bathysidus pentagrammus)
• Pallid sailfin (Bathyembryx istiophasma)

Several of these species are quite eye-catching; the Abyssal Rainbow Gar was described as brightly colored, with a scarlet head, blue body, and yellow tail, moving in an almost upright position. The Giant Dragonfish, estimated at 'at least' 6 ft in length, is over triple the size of the largest known dragonfish (the Obese Dragonfish, at 55cm/1.8 ft), and for the constellationfish, Beebe described it's lights as 'unbelievably beautiful', with five lines of large, pale yellow lights each surrounded by a semi-circle of smaller, purple lights.

None of Beebe's mystery fish have been seen since they were first spotted by Beebe, and the accompanying inventor of the Bathysphere, Otis Barton, on their deep sea journeys. While Beebe was a prolific naturalist who described many other species in his life, his abyssal fish remain disputed due to a lack of later sightings or any collected physical specimens. When not accused of being outright fabrications, many are chalked up to misidentifications of other known sea creatures, through the low light and haze of the bathysphere's thick glass, or even to hallucinations as result of low air quality and nitrogen narcosis inside the sphere.