This fabulous video was shot during a scuba diving trip to Norway, in the fjords of Trondheim and Namsen, between the 26^th of September and the 6^th of October, by the talented German director Alex Benedik, one of the very first members of YouDive.tv

The fascinating luminescent red jellyfish that can be seen at the beginning of the video, Periphylla Periphylla or helmet jellyfish, is a deep sea creature living down to -23,000 ft. This rare animal can die when in contact with light because of a toxin produced by its red pigments.

Beyond the other surprising species shown in this video, such as a deep sea orange gorgonian, the tadpole fish at 2’50’’ or the monkfish at 3’00’’, Alex mainly came to Norway to film a rare animal that he previously searched without success in Alaska and British Columbia: the rabbit fish also called the rat fish (Chimaera Monstrosa). This cartilaginous fish that can be seen at 2’50’’ is not a shark, even if it is a close cousin. It has an average size of 3 to 5 ft. and usually lives between 1,000 and 5,000 ft. deep.

To find it, Alex dived several times at -120ft. in freezing water in the middle of the night. As currents are powerful in the fjords, scuba divers need to dive at slack water between the tides. For information, at that time of the year, slack water was between midnight and 3 am!

HOW TO DIVE THERE?
Being almost an expedition, this trip must be supervised by specialists. For his scuba diving trip, Alex used the services of Northern Explorers.

© Alexander Benedik www.globaldivemedia.com  / Music by Greendjohn - Contact 
Alex’s videos are all available on Vimeo: vimeo.com/globaldivemedia