Bizarre Deep Sea Fish Caught on Camera Possibly for the First Time [VIDEO]

In what may be the first sighting of the rare oarfish in its natural habitat, scientists have captured a video of the massive sea creature while conducting research in the Gulf of Mexico.

Previously, the fish had only been seen on a few occasions dying at the sea surface or dead and washed ashore.

"We saw this bright vertical shiny thing, I said 'are they lowering more riser?' as it looked like they were lowering a huge pipe," Mark Benfield of Louisiana State University said in a press release "We zoomed in a little bit and we said 'that's not a riser, that's a fish!'”

Oarfish (Regalecus glesne) are one of the world's longest fish, reaching up to 55 feet, which in turn has led scientists to speculate its possible role behind the many stories regarding sea serpents and mermaids once traded by ocean travellers.

"As we approached, it retreated downwards, swimming tail first in a vertical orientation as the ROV followed," Benfield explained, adding that the fish’s swimming behavior consisted of undulating its dorsal fin in waves that propelled it backwards at “quite a good speed.”

The fish was observed underneath Thunderhorse in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the largest semi-submersible oil rigs in the world.

The group of scientists was engaged in a project run by the National Oceanography Center, Southamptom (NOCS) known as Serpent that consists of oil and gas companies allowing scientists access to their deep-sea technologies and infrastructure in a bid to aid their research.

The research "provides a wonderful opportunity to learn more about life in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico,” Benfield said of the collaboration. “That we found an oarfish while doing so was a fantastic bonus.”

In the future, the researcher explained his vision for the Serpent Project in the Gulf to include a deep-sea biological observation system featuring hundreds of ROV-equipped ships and rigs throughout the region.

Doing so, he said, would enable scientists to get a better idea of “what species are present, where they are present and what they are doing.”

The results of the observation were published in the the Journal of Fish Biology.