Deep sea creatures in captivity

TheMightyOrca

TheMightyOrca

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
Anyone know what kinds of deep sea creatures have been kept in captivity? Only one I know of is the vampire squid at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I'd really like to learn which ones have been attempted, which ones worked, and how places keep such creatures alive.
 
Eight additional deeper sea fish families that I have not heard about being kept in aquariums previously. All in Japan and kept currently or recently:
*Banjofish, Banjosidae (exact species: Banjos banjos, Shimoda Aquarium and Takeshima Aquarium)
*Beardfish, Polymixiidae (exact species: Polymixia japonica, Aqua World Oarai).
*Deepwater anglerfish, suborder Ceratioidei (not sure about species or family, Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium)
*Deepwater bullhead sculpin, Ereuniidae (exact species: Ereunias grallator, Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium).
*Greeneye, Chlorophthalmidae (exact species: Chlorophthalmus borealis, Aquamarine Fukushima and Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium).
*Jellynose Fish, Ateleopodidae (exact species: Ateleopus japonicus, Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium).
*Manefish, Caristiidae (exact species: Caristius macropus, Aquamarine Fukushima and Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium).
*Sixgill stingray, Hexatrygonidae (exact species: Hexatrygon bickelli, Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium).

A deeper ocean sea cucumber order that I have not heard about being kept in aquariums previously:
*Elasipodida (exact species: Laetmogone maculata, Numazu Deep Sea Aquarium). The genus is misspelled Laetomogone on its display and this has been copied all over the net. This species is also interesting because it has light organs on the tips of the "tentacles" on the back that glow clear blue if the animal is disturbed. It is a relative of the "sea pig" that gained some fame on the net last year. At one point Numazu also considered trying the pelagic Enypniastes eximia from the same order but I think this has been abandoned for now.

It will be interesting to see what family will be next on the growing list of deeper sea animals in aquariums.

It is always interesting to check updates from Numazu. Some of the most unusual are frilled shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus), rough shark (Oxynotus japonicus), kitefin shark (Dalatias licha), armored searobin (Peristedion orientale), blobfish (Ebinania brephocephala and Ebinania vermiculata), sea toad (Chaunax abei and Chaunax fimbriatus), snailfish (Careproctus rastrinus and Careproctus rotundifrons), chiroteuthid squid (Chiroteuthis imperator), flapjack octopus (Opisthoteuthis depressa), banded whip lobster (Puerulus angulatus), Indian Ocean lobsterette (Nephropsis stewarti), sea spider (Ascorhynchus japonicum) and pom-pom anemone (Liponema multicornis). This anemone is also kept elsewhere in Japan and is a close relative of the similar Liponema brevicornis that was kept at Monterey Bay. This is the species DavidBrown refers to as "anemones that roll around" in the thread linked in Chlidonias' last post.
 
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Berlin Zoo aquarium has a little annex with two deep sea species in it. I can't remeber what exactly but I think a jellyfish and a fish species? I'm sure someone else has the details.
 
I may be wrong, but as far as I can understand there is not vampire squid at Monterey anymore. This species appears to be as short-lived as almost all cephalopod species, meaning that an adult captured generally will have less than a year left of its natural life.

There have been some variations in the species kept at the deep sea corner in Berlin, but in recent years main inhabitants have been pineapplefish, nautilus, giant isopod, spotted ratfish and assorted sea stars (the last as fillers, not especially deep water species). Pineapplefish and nautilus are probably the most frequently seen deep sea species kept in aquariums worldwide, and both also occurs at fairly shallow depths. If I remember right, the nautilus aren't at Berlin currently. Giant isopods are quite rare in aquariums outside Asia (they're pretty common in especially Japan, which is also where Berlin got theirs) and spotted ratfish used to be exceptional outside North America, but now are seen at an increasing number of aquariums.

As far as I know, the latest major deep sea news is a Pacific sleeper shark at Numazu. A close relative of the Greenland shark with a very similar lifestyle and appearance. It also reaches comparable gigantic dimensions (the growth is exceptionally slow). The one at Numazu is less than 2 m, however.
 
Chlidonias said:
more deep-water than deep-sea though. How deep do they go?
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Max published for the striped boarfish (bearded armorhead) in the literature is almost 200 m, but there are photos of this species at 740 m off the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. It's essentially an anti-tropical species, i.e. found fairly shallow (as little as 10 m) in subtropics and warm temperate regions of both hemispheres, but absent or only in colder deeper water when approaching the Equator like the main Hawaiian islands (the northwestern islands are colder, but they're fully protected and only accessible with special permit).

It may well be more common deeper than 200 m than the single 740 m record suggests, but this is within the "dark gap". This is the region between ~200-600 m that from a biological point of view has been among the least studied depths in the entire ocean. Somewhere between 100 and 200 m is the typical limit of standard scientific submarines and alike. Deeper generally require highly specialized equipment and when researcher get their hands on that they often push it to the limit, going as deep as possible. This resulted in a rather strange situation where species both above and below this range often were better documented than species in between. Especially true for species that tend to stay close to rocky formations (hard to catch in nets) and specialized feeders (hard to catch on hooks or in traps). The striped boarfish is exactly that kind of species.
 
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Numazu deep sea aquarium has kept many deep sea creatures never before kept in captivity, such as the Anglerfish (Diceratias pileatus), the Whitepen Dragonfish (Photonectes Albipennis), the Sixgill Stingray (Hexatrygon bickelli), Goblin Shark (Mitsukurina owstoni), Frilled Shark (Chlamydoselachus anguineus), Bluntnose Sixgill Shark (Hexanchus griseus), Sharpnose Sevengill Shark (Heptranchias perlo), Silver Chimaera (Chimaera phantasma), Pacific Jellynose Fish (Ateleopus japonicus), Kitefin Shark (Dalatias licha), And the Pacific Sleeper Shark (Somniosus pacificus) And even Viper Dogfish!
 
The Florida Aquarium had a tank of Deep Sea creatures for a few years, it has been replaced, unfortunately. They had species of Spider Crabs, Giant Isopod, and a couple of others. I really liked that exhibit, I wish I had a picture and the exact species that it had. The tank was located in the Off Shore area in a dark environment with extra cooling in the water and red lighting.
 
Back when the Fort Worth Zoo still had their aquarium (before 2002), they had a pair of giant isopods. I remember their tank was right next to the insect section of the aquarium.
The Dallas World Aquarium has flashlight fish...Photoblepharon palpebratum, I think
 
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I’ve seen news and videos members of Gempylidae (snake mackerels) and Trichiuridae (cutlassfish) kept in aquaria of Japan, cutlassfish is also bred in captivity in an Chinese scientific institution.
 
Ggrarl said:
The Dallas World Aquarium has flashlight fish...Photoblepharon palpebratum, I think
Click to expand...
Flashlightfish aren't deep sea though. P. palpebratum is most commonly found in water only 15 metres deep, although they do venture down to 50 metres, nowhere near deep enough to be considered a deep sea species. I believe a species has to live at depths of at least 200 metres to be considered deep sea.
 
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