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July 29, 2016

Among Chimeras

BY: Juan Cuetos

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According to Greek mythology, the Chimera was a monstrous hybrid with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon. A “chimera” can also refer to a dream or illusion, a product of the imagination that is hoped or wished for in spite of being almost impossible to achieve.

We are in Norwegian waters and we’re going to work with the ROV at 180 m down and are excited about what we’re going to find down there.

The ROV is approaching the seabed and the clouds of krill attracted to the lights make it almost impossible to see what’s behind them. Suddenly pollack, cod, fairly large sponges, and spectacular gorgonians start to appear…and someone shouts: Chimera!!! And in front of us we have it, a very primitive and strange-looking cartilaginous fish, which earned it the name of chimera in the sense of the hybrid monster of Greek mythology made from parts of different animals. Perfectly adapted to survive in these cold waters, we were lucky enough to see not one but four of these fish, something truly spectacular!!

This time, our particular chimera of finding a healthy and well-preserved seabed was achieved.