We collected tissue samples and @arciladk was able to generate a mitogenome for this species and compare it with related eels, such as gulper eels, bobtail eels and snipe eels.

These eels lack an upper jaw and instead have a venomous fang in the roof of their mouth that you can see on this CT scan. They presumably use this to immobilize large red crustaceans, their favorite prey.

It matches Monognathus jesse, previously known from only ONE specimen collected near the Line Islands in 1960 (catalog number SIO 60-245). And we figured this extraordinary specimen warranted a publication

From 1,750–2,000 m deep, we collected one of the rarest deepsea fishes out there: a one-jaw eel (family Monognathidae). Only ~100 specimens are known worldwide and we hold the largest collection (~46), most just a few inches long… The one we collected though, 6 inches or 154 mm!

Back in October 2023, @Scripps_Ocean Professor @anelachoy invited me on a research cruise hundreds of miles off California to study open ocean Goodwin’s. I helped ID deep-sea fishes collected via a MOCNESS net system (opening–closing trawl with known capture depths)

New video explaining the PhD work of Fernando Melendez and research by @arciladk and the @FishEvoLabSIO at @Scripps_Ocean youtu.be/2QnwZy5tQHk

New entrance to the Marine Vertebrate Collection! An amazing mural by @Fishing4Gyotaku of California ichthyofauna. Offshore to nearshore, shallow to deep, oarfish and footballfish to sardines and finescale triggerfish. Brought to life by the amazing @birchaquarium Exhibits team!

10 years ago, @Scripps_Ocean took over the UCLA Ichthyology Collection. Over 2,000 jars of uncataloged/unidentified material remained there. Last year, we moved them down and found some amazing stuff like this jar of the endemic Clipperton Rainbow Wrasse, Thalassoma robertsoni

It don’t mean ara if it ain’t got that cari

Oh yeah haha so good- a classic SoCal angler name. Its even on FishBase