The abyssal rainbow gar is a

hypothetical species Several species have been assumed to exist, but due to a lack of physical evidence they can only be regarded as potential species. Hypothetical species are usually believed to be extinct. They have caused confusion, as they may have been a separat ...

of fish observed by

William Beebe Charles William Beebe ( ; July 29, 1877 – June 4, 1962) was an American natural history, naturalist, ornithologist, marine biologist, entomologist, explorer, and author. He is remembered for the numerous expeditions he conducted for the New Y ...

while in his

bathysphere The ''Bathysphere'' () was a unique spherical deep sea, deep-sea submersible which was unpowered and lowered into the ocean on a cable, and was used to conduct a series of dives off the coast of Bermuda from 1930 to 1934. The ''Bathysphere'' wa ...

on 11 August 1934, at a depth of 2,500 feet (760 metres) off the coast of

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

Description

At 11:07 o'clock on 11 August 1934, Beebe turned on the 1500-watt light of his bathysphere. In the illuminated water was a quartet of slender fish positioned upright, each four inches in length, with sharply pointed jaws. The heads and jaws of the fish were scarlet, the back of their gills was a strong blue, and their posteriors and tails were a clear yellow. After remaining stiff for a moment, the group of fish swam into the darkness. Although he named them ''abyssal rainbow gars'', Beebe stated that they may have been "anything but

gar Gars are an ancient group of ray-finned fish in the family Lepisosteidae. They comprise seven living species of fish in two genera that inhabit fresh, brackish, and occasionally marine waters of eastern North America, Central America and Cuba ...

s".

References

{{reflist Aquatic cryptids Fish described in 1934

Description

See also

References