Super-rare footage of a baby moray eel (or a Leptocephalus larva, if you wanna get technical) has taken over the internet. Filmed by Barry Haythorne and Rob Rutgers of HRF U/W Productions, the video shows scuba divers coming face-to-face with the tiny creature, which is almost completely transparent.
The nearly invisible larva looks like a trail of smoke or a billowing silk ribbon as it glides through the water, with only its semiglowing face being truly discernible. Actually, let’s be honest—it’s giving the ghost dog Zero from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” only much more hauntingly beautiful.
Either way, it’s pretty mesmerizing to watch.
A small snippet was posted by Wonder of Science to Twitter, which quickly racked up 1.2 million views, but the full six-minute video can be seen on YouTube.
Obviously, being transparent and all, these guys are usually next to impossible to find, making this a pretty miraculous encounter. Even luckier that with modern technology millions of other people can see the ultra-rare sighting.
Eel larvae are almost completely transparent.
Credit: HRF U/W Productionpic.twitter.com/mi9sJpEVMt
— Wonder of Science (@wonderofscience) October 2, 2022
Both the Twitter and YouTube posts are filled with comments of awe, wonder and appreciation for nature’s seemingly never-ending supply of fresh surprises.
“How amazing our world is, brings a smile to my heart,” one person wrote.
“I’m feeling so happy if i look at it, such an amazing creature! It looks like a sea spirit or something,” another added.
The sea is indeed full of intriguing mystery. According to Ocean Literacy, only 5% of the world’s oceans have actually been explored and charted by humans, meaning that there is so much more to be discovered. As one person wrote in the comments, “the oceans are the last unexplored frontier of our planet and lifeforms like this shows how even the wildest imaginings of alien creatures cannot even scratch the wonder and beauty of what Earth’s biodiversity has to offer.”
Nature never ceases to amaze.