Best Bathyal

The apex fish predator of Antarctic waters (Dissostichus mawsoni), reaching up to 220 cm and serving as a critical prey species for sperm whales and Weddell seals.

A large Notothenioid (Dissostichus eleginoides) marketed internationally as Chilean sea bass and managed under CCAMLR to combat widespread illegal and unregulated fishing.

A viviparous member of family Ophidiidae found at some of the greatest depths of any vertebrate, with some species recorded below 8,000 m in ocean trenches.

Deep-sea batfish (Ogcocephalidae) are anglerfish relatives found at bathyal depths that walk on modified pectoral and pelvic fins rather than swimming actively.

Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) is a commercially important North Pacific species marketed as "black cod," prized for its high oil content and mild, buttery flesh.

Giant Grenadier (Albatrossia pectoralis) is the largest member of family Macrouridae, reaching up to 2.1 m in length, and ranges throughout the North Pacific to depths of 3,500 m.

Deepsea Stingray (Plesiobatis daviesi) is the sole species in the monotypic family Plesiobatidae, an Indo-Pacific ray reaching up to 2.7 m total length found at depths to 680 m.

Steindachneria argentea, the sole species in family Steindachneriidae, notable for a ventral bioluminescent organ beneath its head; found in the western Atlantic at depths to 800 m.

Slimeheads (family Trachichthyidae) are deep-water fish with mucus-filled head canals; the orange roughy was rebranded from 'slimehead' in the 1970s for commercial appeal.

A deep-sea lizardfish in family Bathysauridae, generally found at greater depths than Bathysaurus ferox and distributed across tropical and subtropical ocean basins.

Roundnose Grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris) is a slow-reproducing North Atlantic rattail listed as vulnerable by the IUCN due to collapse from intensive deep-sea trawling.

False Catshark (Pseudotriakis microdon) is a large, sluggish deep-sea shark in the monotypic family Pseudotriakidae, distinguished by an unusually long, low first dorsal fin.

Portuguese Dogfish (Centroscymnus coelolepis) is one of the deepest-living sharks known, recorded at depths exceeding 3,600 m in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Antimora rostrata, the blue antimora, is a morid cod widespread in deep Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, considered one of the most abundant bathyal fish globally.

Pacific Grenadier (Coryphaenoides acrolepis) is one of the most abundant deep-sea fish in the North Pacific, inhabiting depths from 200 to 3,700 m across the basin.

Coryphaenoides acrolepis, one of the most abundant grenadiers in the North Pacific, found at depths of 200–4,000 m and targeted by commercial bottom-trawl fisheries.

A circumglobally distributed berycid (Beryx splendens) that aggregates around seamounts at 200–800 m depth and supports commercial fisheries in both the Atlantic and Pacific.

Sebastes alutus, the Pacific ocean perch, is a commercially important rockfish ranging from California to Japan that supports major trawl fisheries across the North Pacific.

Antimora rostrata (Moridae), a codling distributed across all major oceans at 350–3,000 m, easily recognized by its pronounced, flattened snout and violet-tinged coloration.

Gulper Shark (Centrophorus granulosus) is a vulnerable deep-water shark heavily exploited for its squalene-rich liver oil used in cosmetics, found in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.

Leafscale Gulper Shark (Centrophorus squamosus) is a deep-water shark named for its distinctive leaf-shaped dermal denticles, listed as vulnerable due to slow reproduction and fishing pressure.

Roughhead Grenadier (Macrourus berglax) is a North Atlantic rattail fish commercially trawled at depths of 200–2,600 m and listed as near threatened by the IUCN.

Birdbeak Dogfish (Deania calcea) is a deep-water shark of family Centrophoridae named for its distinctively long, flattened, rostrum-like snout, distributed across the Atlantic and Pacific.

A deep-water berycid (Beryx decadactylus) with a wide distribution across tropical and subtropical seas, targeted commercially in Atlantic and Indo-Pacific fisheries.

A commercially harvested rockfish (Sebastolobus alascanus) of the northeastern Pacific capable of living up to 100 years at depths ranging from 18 to 1,500 m.

A deep-water rockfish (Sebastolobus altivelis) of the eastern Pacific that inhabits greater depths than the shortspine thornyhead, typically found at 300–1,700 m.

A zoarcid fish of deep, cold ocean waters, eelpouts comprise family Zoarcidae with over 300 species, making it one of the largest deep-sea fish families.

Zameus squamulosus (Somniosidae), a cosmopolitan deep-sea squaliform shark recorded at 200–2,000 m worldwide, named for its distinctively dense, velvety skin texture.

An ovoviviparous scorpaenid (Helicolenus dactylopterus) found in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean at 50–1,000 m, targeted by artisanal and commercial fisheries.