Aquarium patrons gather to see the cute, if intangible, visitor. Said one staffer: “If you don’t see it, that’s what it looks like!”
Monterey, CA — For the first time in its 32 years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s open-ocean Great Tide Pool is playing host to an uncommon, charming and completely invisible ghost nautilus.
“We’ve never not seen anything like it!” explains Director of Interpretation Jim
Covell. “With all the warm water we’ve been having this year and last, we’ve been observing and also not observing lots of odd activity in the Monterey Bay. Today is no exception.”
As the doors opened, guests rushed to take pictures of the unique and imperceptible animal apparently though perhaps not actually resting just off the Aquarium’s back deck. Jim notes: “Because light doesn’t refract, diffract, reflect or otherwise interact in any way with the ghost nautilus, it’s difficult to know if it just arrived or if it’s been here the whole time.”
An artist’s impression of the ghost nautilus, based on visitor descriptions. Editor’s note: The artist wishes to stress that this is an estimation and that this graphic could be “way off”.
The ghost nautilus was first missed during the 1982-83 El Niño in the great depths of the Monterey Submarine Canyon by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
“The ghost nautilus is really the holy grail of subjective deep-sea fauna,” said Stefanie Bush, an MBARI post-doctoral researcher studying mostly tangible cephalopods—a group of mollusks that includes squid, octopuses, cuttlefishes as well as their discarnate relatives. She continues: “There aren’t any reports of a ghost nautilus this close to shore, or anywhere really, so this is a very exciting day.”
A visiting mother and her two kids unsure that they’re experiencing what everyone else may or may not be, but taking a picture just in case.
For staff and visitors alike, it’s been a teachable moment in local cryptozoology.
“Multiple staff and volunteers reported not having any evidence of a ghost nautilus in the Great Tide Pool this morning, which is the first sign that one may be around,” reports Natalie Johnstun, a Guest Experience Ambassador with years of experience spotting animals of all kinds, observable and less-so, from the Aquarium’s back decks.
“Not to sound too jaded, but for us it’s just another day on the bay—especially
because by all accounts that’s exactly what it looks like,” relays long-time Aquarium staffer Katie Tunngston. “We’re glad our visitors get to connect with the incorporeal life of the ocean, even though many of us are blind to it at this point.”
“It’s the best thing I’ve never seen!” said Chris Kidde, a UK resident who
came to the Aquarium specifically to experience the wildlife of the bay using his eyes or extrasensory perception. “I first learned about the amazing life of the area from BBC’s Big Blue Live, and I figured that for every crazy creature on screen, there were probably many more that no one was noticing. So far with this ghost nautilus “event,” I can’t tell if I’ve been disappointed or not—it’s been brilliant!”
Aquarium visitors braving morning rain, which seemingly passed clear through the nonplussed and nonphysical ghost nautilus.
When asked if the oddly endearing and entirely ethereal animal needed
rescue, Senior Spectral Cephalopod Aquarist Brett Grasse stated: “It’s a wild animal that seems to be using the tide pool as a resting place—it will return to the wild when it feels comfortable. In fact, it may have already done so, or perhaps it was never even here in the first place.” He added, “We don’t have any plans to try to exhibit ghost nautilus, given their metaphysical nature—but then again, perhaps we’ve never not had them on display.”
As of this writing, the ghost nautilus is still indiscernible from the Aquarium’s
Great Tide Pool backdrop. Jim Covell encourages potential visitors to come as soon as possible. “The one scientific paper on the ghost nautilus mentions that these animals tend to be most invisible between March 31st and April 2nd—we hope that everyone can join us to likely not experience this latent wonder of the world ocean!”
You can watch the Periscope rebroadcast of this morning’s unlikely discovery here!
