The (Very) Deep Ocean Reveals New Fish Species

A team of researchers announces the discovery of a new fish species, which was found to exist at a depth that was previously thought to contain no such creatures.

The research effort was taking place in a southeastern Pacific trench, when scientists with the project noticed the peculiar species of snailfish. The animal was found 4.5 miles (7.24 kilometers) underwater.

News reports from the BBC and the Australian Associated Press (AAP) indicate that the creature was seemingly transparent and bizarre-looking, sporting tiny dots where its eyes should have been.

It also carried very wide fins, the reports go on to say. The snailfish was discovered during a three-week expedition being carried out by experts with the Oceanlab group at the University of Aberdeen.

Marine biologists from Australia, New Zealand and Japan were investigating the depths of the trench, scouting its walls at depths extending from 2.8 to 5 miles (4.5 to 8 kilometers).

What puzzled researchers the most was the fact that, even at this incredible depth, an impressive biodiversity was present. The waters were teeming with life forms, of which the snail fish was the most complex.

Scientists knew they may run into amphipods in the deep sea. But not even these very small crustaceans were expected to endure this low underwater.

The sheer water pressure at these depths is enough to make any human being implode several times over, crushing them under incredible pressure.

According to University of Aberdeen expert and study leader Alan Jamieson, the group also discovered a deep-sea eel species that appeared to be able to conduct 22-hour-long feeding frenzies.

“I'd put money on [the cusk-eels] being a new species too, but that's difficult to confirm from a few photographs. We really need to bring a specimen to the surface,” Jamieson explained for the AAP.

He adds that the new investigation was prompted by the fact that similar discoveries were made back in 20008 and 2009, in similar trenches around Japan.

The research groups that made those studies claimed that they had discovered snailfish living at similarly-impressive depths, and the new collaboration wanted to see if that was true.

The group explains that it plans to return next year, in order to try and catch a few of the animals living so deep under the surface of the water, Our Amazing Planet reports.