The Eel With No Eyes on the Abyssal Plain
One of the most fascinating fish we find at the bottom of the ocean has to be the faceless cusk eel (Typhlonus nasus). Also called a blind cusk eel, or as our team jokes puhi maka 'ole (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) this abyssal-dwelling creature has a bulbous head that looks to many to be missing a face - although there are small eyes deep beneath its skin and a mouth very low on the head hidden in there. While the eyes do exist deep beneath the skin, they’re not particularly functional and the faceless cusk eel relies more on chemical smell sensors and touch to navigate in the darkness.
We spotted a few of these individuals during our first dive of the NA182 expedition with ROVs Little Hercules and Atalanta over 5,000 meters deep. Due to Hurricane Nolo, the team is diverted from our planned operational areas in the Hawaiian Islands, now exploring an area of Cretaceous-age seafloor within the Line Islands volcanic province, SW of Sculpin Ridge in international waters. Thanks to our camera’s zoom we could look closely for eel’s two pairs of nostrils and even spot a few parasites hitching a ride!
Ocean Exploration Trust's NA182 Exploration of the Hawaiian Islands is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the NOAA Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
Deep-Sea Habitats of the Hawaiian Archipelago
Our final OECI-sponsored expedition of 2026 brings E/V Nautilus back to the Hawaiian Islands. While nearshore waters surrounding the islands have been relatively well surveyed, many offshore areas remain completely unexplored, hindering efforts to effectively manage the resources of this unique region.
