An Encounter That Was Not in the Route
The expedition vessel E/V Nautilus set out from Honolulu to explore the previously almost unstudied underwater ridges, mountains and abyssal plains near the Hawaiian archipelago. The voyage is scheduled for the period from 22 September to 12 October 2026 and is conducted with the support of NOAA Ocean Exploration.
However, Hurricane Nolo changed the crew's original plans. The vessel deviated from the intended area and headed into international waters toward a stretch of ancient seabed in the volcanic province of the Line Islands, southwest of the Scalpin Ridge.
During the first dive, the remotely operated vehicles Little Hercules and Atalanta descended deeper than 5 000 metres. There their cameras encountered several faceless fish at once.
The route changed because of the elements — and it was precisely on the new path that the ocean showed the researchers life they had not planned to see.
A Fish Whose Face Is Built Differently
The name "faceless" arose from the unusual structure of the head of Typhlonus nasus.
Its mouth is positioned very low, on the underside of the head, so when viewed from the front it remains almost invisible. The eyes exist, but are hidden deep beneath the skin and, according to the researchers, have extremely limited functionality. Two pairs of large nostrils are located closer to the front of the head.
Thanks to the camera's zoom, the team was able to examine these openings closely and even see tiny parasites travelling on the fish's body.
In absolute darkness, ordinary vision offers few advantages. That is why the faceless fish perceives its surroundings differently: chemical signals, smells and touch play an important role.
It is not "deprived" of the usual way of seeing. Its perception is simply organised in accordance with a different reality.
Where a human would have to illuminate the space with a searchlight, this life form reads the water directly — sensing the presence of food, the movement of the environment and the proximity of other organisms without any visual image.
An acquaintance more than a century and a half long
The first representatives known to science, Typhlonus nasus were collected in in 1874 during the expedition of the British ship HMS Challenger — the first large-scale round-the-world oceanographic voyage.
In 1878 the zoologist Albert Günther described the species scientifically. Its name can be translated roughly as "blind fish with a big nose" — a reference to its poorly developed vision and prominent nostrils.
Despite the rarity of observations, the species is distributed fairly widely. It has been recorded near the Arabian Sea, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Japan, Hawaii and Australia, predominantly at depths of around 4 000–5 000 metres.
In 2017 several specimens were discovered during the Australian expedition Sampling the Abyss. Back then the fish's unusual appearance once again drew the attention of the whole world.
An observation of 2026 does not mean the discovery of a new species. Its value lies elsewhere: the vehicles saw several fish alive in their natural environment, without bringing them to the surface. The cameras made it possible to observe how they move freely in that world for which their body was formed.
When absence turns out to be another form of presence
A human being easily takes his own constitution for a universal model.
We look for eyes — and say the fish is almost blind.
We look for a familiar mouth — and call it faceless.
We look for light — and imagine the deep as a desert.
But the ocean shows us: the absence of a familiar feature does not yet mean a deficiency.
In a world without light, the body of this fish did not become incomplete. It revealed other possibilities of perception. Chemical substances in the water, barely noticeable touches and vibrations of the environment form for it its own picture of space — not a visual one, but precise enough to find food and continue life on the abyssal plain.
This is not a world of lesser possibilities. It is a different system of relations with the environment.
The ocean that cannot be explored in a straight line
The story of the NA182 expedition recalls yet another peculiarity of knowing the ocean: the path to discovery is rarely a straight one.
The researchers draw up routes, choose dive areas and calculate working time. But the ocean remains an active participant in what happens. Wind, waves and hurricanes change human plans, and with them the field of observation as well.
A change of course does not guarantee discovery and does not turn an elemental phenomenon into a sign. But it creates a new point of encounter that did not exist in the original plan.
The scientists found themselves above a different stretch of the seabed. The vehicles dived in a different place. Other living beings came into the lens.
Thus the accident of the route became part of scientific knowledge.
What did the ocean remind us of today?
To perceive does not necessarily mean to look.
Every form of life comes into contact with the world in its own way. Some orient themselves by light, others by sound, smell, touch, electric fields or the movement of water. Each has its own way of recognising the surrounding space and responding to it.
The faceless fish does not wait for light to begin living. It is in constant interaction with the deep and reads it in the way that is available to it alone.
And a human being, having pointed a camera into the darkness, gains the opportunity to expand his own perception as well.
Sometimes, to see more, it is not enough to add light. One must give up the expectation that life is obliged to be arranged in a way familiar to us.
The ocean showed today: the world does not end where the eye ceases to see. Beyond sight, the endless recognition of life by life continues.
