Deep Sea Challengers is a formidable force in the rare fish paradigm. They’ve collected the illustrious Neptune grouper, Lanceolatus fairy wrasses, Symphysanodon typus and just last week, we shared with you a brand new video of O. katayamai. That’s just the tip of the rare fish ice berg. Impressive as that may be, the new lone O. katayamai came along with four other five-stared upper tiered rarities – Bodianus masudai, Liopropoma aragai, an unidentified Plectranthias sp and an Aulacocephalus temminckii. We’ve featured almost all of these rockstars of the deep Japanese reef before, but this is the first time we’ve seen footage of Liopropoma aragai alive, and it could be one of the very few videos of this fish ever. Check out the video of the impressive L. aragai below decked in white and red which was collected at a ridiculous 787 ft. The fish looks a little worse for wear and we really hope it settles down and pulls through.
Deep Sea Challengers have also uploaded videos of B. masudai, A. temminckii and the unidentified Plectranthias, which were also collected at 787 ft, with the exception of B. masudai at 328 ft. The extreme depths in which these fishes were collected from is a testament to DSC’s collecting prowess, and most of the fish caught seem to have adapted pretty well so far. We’ve also featured a large adult A. temminckii by BlueHarbor before, but this time, DSC scored with a smaller specimen. The blue and gold colored soapfish is a complete stunner and is just as precious as any other rare Angelfish. Last but certainly not least, an undescribed Plectranthias was also featured along with the rest. Small and inconspicuous as it may look from the video, we’re sure that it’s actually a really cool fish if only we had a chance for a closer look. Check out the string of videos below featuring all the aforementioned fishes. Aside from the B. masudai video, you might want to turn your speakers down for the others, which feature mostly static noise and running pumps
