After thousands of years, scientists have finally discovered the reason why the Mayans vanished

Researchers Film the Deepest Fish in the Ocean for the First Time

The deepest fish ever discovered beneath the ocean's surface was recently taken on camera by deep-sea scientists onboard the research vessel DSSV Pressure Drop (now dubbed Dagon) off the coast of Japan. The researchers discovered a startlingly little white snailfish, thought to be a juvenile member of the Pseudoliparis species, after plunging to an astounding depth of 27,349 feet (8,336 metres, or 5.1 miles). The group jumped at the chance to record this extraordinary experience.

BELIEVING IS SEA-ING

In the Japan Trench, which is north of the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, researchers from the Minderoo-University of Western Australia Deep Sea Research Centre and the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology successfully caught two snailfish of the species Pseudoliparis believe. They broke the previous record for the deepest fish ever caught by setting their traps at a depth of 26,319 feet.

The expedition's principal scientist and the creator of the Deep Sea Research Centre, Alan Jamieson, conveyed his astonishment by saying, "The Japanese trenches were fantastic sites to explore. Even at the very bottom, they are so wealthy in life. Furthermore, he noted that this was the first known occurrence of a fish being seen or caught in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, prompting him to surmise that further fish species dwell in these enigmatic depths.

Mariana snailfish live over 26,000 feet below sea level. pic.twitter.com/IpbMYURkWT

— Seeker by The Verge (@Seeker) August 25, 2018

 

Snailfish, which are members of the Liparidae family and number over 400 species, are remarkably adapted to their surroundings. They are able to endure severe pressures of more than 800 atmospheres, which would be lethal to most other animals. They are able to survive in both shallow coastal waters and the deepest parts of the ocean. Swim bladders, the air-filled sacs that provide buoyancy to most fish species, are absent in snailfish. They are also protected from the abyss's crushing pressures by their gelatinous coating rather than conventional scales. These hardy organisms also use an osmolyte fluid, which provides cellular-level defence.

Intriguingly, young snailfish differ from the pattern seen in many other deep-sea fish species in that they have a stronger capacity for living at the deepest depths. The fact that they can swim at such depths gives them an edge over prospective predators who are unable to descend as deep.

AN FIN-TASTIC FIND

The Mariana Trench, the deepest known marine trench on Earth, was home to the Mariana snailfish (Pseudoliparis swirei), which held the record for the deepest fish ever captured on camera.

In contrast to comparable species seen in other marine trenches, the newly discovered film, which was collected during a two-month excursion from August to September, implies that snailfish in the Japanese trenches may be more numerous. We don't yet know the precise causes of this occurrence.

The important take-home message for me is not necessarily that they are residing at 8,336 metres; rather, it is that we have enough knowledge of this ecosystem to have predicted that these trenches would be where the deepest fish would reside. In fact, nobody had ever visited or removed a single fish from the whole trench before this mission.

The researchers hope to return to the Japanese trenches and the Ryukyu Trench to look more closely at the biology of the snailfish and find out about additional undiscovered deep-sea fish species that live in these mysterious places.