Look at a mirror dory head-on and it nearly disappears. The body is deep and compressed, flattened side to side like a pancake standing on edge. When facing a predator, that thin profile offers almost nothing to grab. The silver skin does the rest of the work. It reflects the surrounding water so effectively that the fish becomes a living mirror, blending into the blue. It is a close relative of the better-known John dory. They share the same distinctive shape and the large, dark spot on the side. But where John dory patrols shallower coastal waters, the mirror dory stays deeper. It lives between 100 and 400 metres down. This is on continental slopes and seamounts near submarine canyons and underwater ridges. Sandy and muddy bottoms near rocky outcrops are its preferred terrain. Hunting happens by hovering. Slow, patient, almost motionless. Then a small fish or squid drifts too close. The large mouth opens like a trap. It sucks the prey in with a sudden rush of water. This is not a pursuit predator. It is an ambush specialist, waiting for dinner to come to it. At night it feeds near the seafloor, using the darkness as cover. Nobody fishes for mirror dory on purpose in New Zealand waters. It arrives as bycatch in trawl and longline fisheries targeting hoki and oreo. The flesh is firm and white, similar to other dories. It is not valuable enough to warrant a directed fishery. Deep-sea bottom trawling damages the habitats where it lives. Climate change may affect the deep-sea ecosystems that support its prey. Population trends remain poorly understood. That is the standard disclaimer for deep-sea fish, but it matters here. A fish that looks like a mirror and hunts like a ghost deserves better than guesswork. For now, it persists, a silver reflection in the dim water, waiting for us to learn a little more about its world.