A new record has been set for the
world's deepest fish, the BBC reports.
The bizarre-looking creature, which is new to science, was
filmed 8145m beneath the waves, beating the previous depth record by nearly
500m.
Several other new species of fish were also caught on
camera, as well as huge crustaceans called supergiants.
The animals were discovered during an international
expedition to the Mariana Trench, which lies almost 11km down in the Pacific
Ocean.
The 30-day voyage took place from the Schmidt Ocean
Institute's research vessel, Falkor, and is the most comprehensive survey of
world's deepest place ever undertaken.
The Hadal Ecosystem Studies (Hades) team deployed unmanned
landers more than 90 times to depths that ranged between 5000m and 10,600m.
They studied both steep walls of the undersea canyon.
Dr Jeff Drazen, co-chief scientist from the University of
Hawaii, US said: "Many studies have rushed to the bottom of the trench,
but from an ecological view that is very limiting.
"It's like trying to understand a mountain ecosystem by
only looking at its summit."
The University of Aberdeen's Hadal Lander - the UK's deepest
diving vehicle - recorded more than 100 hours of deep-sea footage.
Until this expedition, the deepest fish had been found in
the Japan Trench, also in the Pacific Ocean. A 17-strong shoal of pink
gelatinous snailfish (Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis) were
recorded 7700m down.
Dr Alan Jamieson, from Oceanlab at the University of
Aberdeen said: "After we found these, we started seeing them in other deep
trenches. Each trench has its own snailfish species.
"And we saw one in the Mariana Trench at more than
8000m and we think it's a new species."
The team thought they had broken the deepest-fish record,
but then another pale pink species came to feed at the lander, which is loaded
with bait, even further down at 8145m.
Dr Jamieson said: "We think it is a snailfish, but it's
so weird-looking; it's up in the air in terms of what it is.
"It is unbelievably fragile and when it swims, it looks
like it has wet tissue paper floating behind it.
"And it has a weird snout - it looks like a cartoon dog
snout."
Without catching the fish and bringing it back to the
surface the team is unable to confirm that it is a new species, but Dr Jamieson
said it did not look like anything he'd seen before or knew of.
The new record-breaking creature is close to the depth-limit
at which scientists believe fish can survive.
They researchers also captured another bizarre species -
supergiants - on camera.
These creatures are a type of amphipod, which are normally
around 2-3cm long. The super-sized version can reach up to 30cm.
Dr Jamieson said: "We've got more than 20 hours of
footage of them, and we're learning the way they swim, the way they feed and
the way they fend off predators.
"They clamp down on the bait, and bore their head into
it and put their spiky tail in the air like a thorn bush.
"Anything that goes for it gets stabbed in the
nose."
The dives made during the expedition were all conducted by
unmanned vehicles, but humans have visited the world's deepest place.
In 1960 US Navy Lt Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques
Piccard made an incredibly risky journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in
a bathyscaphe called the Trieste.
And in 2012 Hollywood director James Cameron made a solo
descent to the seafloor in his sub called the Deepsea Challenger.
He described the place as a desolate, alien world.
Read the article HERE.
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