A California diver had an extraordinary encounter on December 30 when he spotted one of the ocean's rarest fish just offshore from Monterey Bay. Ted Judah was diving near McAbee Beach in the Cannery Row area when he noticed unusually clear water conditions and decided to explore the shallows instead of heading out to deeper areas. What he found was a thin, shimmering fish moving upright through the water—a juvenile king-of-the-salmon ribbonfish, a deep-sea species that typically lives thousands of feet below the surface.
Background
The king-of-the-salmon ribbonfish belongs to the same family as the oarfish and is built for life in the deep ocean. These creatures normally inhabit waters around 900 meters, or roughly 3,000 feet, below the surface. They are so rarely encountered alive that scientists have limited knowledge about their behavior and biology. Most sightings occur after storms or when the fish are injured and unable to stay in their normal deep-water habitat.
The fish gets its name from the Makah, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest, who believed the creature would guide salmon returning to their spawning grounds. Adult king-of-the-salmon can grow to the length of a full-grown person, making them substantial predators in the deep sea.
Key Details
The fish Judah encountered was small—about nine inches long—with delicate, fluttering fins and a distinctive vertical posture as it swam through the water column. The creature appeared healthy and showed no signs of injury or distress, which made the sighting even more unusual. Judah, a lifelong diver who has explored California's coast since childhood and volunteered on marine conservation projects, documented the encounter with a GoPro camera before carefully leaving the fish undisturbed.
Confirmation and Rarity
After Judah and his wife shared the footage online, viewers debated what species they had actually seen. The mystery was solved when a marine biologist from the Monterey Bay Aquarium examined the video and confirmed the identification as a juvenile king-of-the-salmon ribbonfish. This was only the second recorded sighting of the species in that year.
Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have additional footage of a king-of-the-salmon on record. That specimen was 14 centimeters long and was spotted at a depth of 100 meters—still relatively shallow for a fish that normally dwells much deeper in the ocean.
What This Means
Encounters with deep-sea creatures in shallow waters raise questions about ocean conditions and animal behavior. When fish from the deep ocean appear near the surface alive and healthy, it suggests something has drawn them away from their normal habitat. Scientists continue to study these rare sightings to better understand how deep-sea ecosystems function and what factors might influence when these creatures venture into shallower waters.
"The fish is believed to have been given its name by the Makah, an indigenous people of the Pacific North-west who believed that it would guide salmon returning to their spawning grounds." – Marine biologists studying the species
The Monterey Bay area has become a hotspot for rare deep-sea fish sightings in recent years. Researchers using remotely operated vehicles have documented encounters with other unusual species, including the highfin dragonfish, which scientists had only spotted four times in three decades of research before a recent sighting off the California coast. The barreleye fish, another deep-sea dweller, has been encountered only nine times by researchers in Monterey Bay.
These sightings provide valuable opportunities for scientists to study creatures that normally remain hidden in the ocean's depths. Each encounter offers new information about the diversity and behavior of deep-sea life, contributing to our understanding of one of Earth's least-explored environments.
For Judah, the encounter represents a remarkable moment in a lifetime of ocean exploration. Seeing a healthy, living king-of-the-salmon ribbonfish swimming near the surface is something most marine biologists and divers never experience, making his December morning dive one he will not forget.
