Ghost of the Deep: New species in one of world’s deepest ocean trenches

New species found in one of world’s deepest ocean trenches.

New species in one of world’s deepest ocean trenches

This new species of ghostly white snailfish was photographed swimming at depths of 4.3 miles (7 km) during a recent expedition to the Peru-Chile trench in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. “The tantalizing thing is we’ve got a very clear photo of the species,” said Monty Priede, director of Oceanlab at Scotland’s University of Aberdeen, which co-sponsored the expedition. “No one has ever seen this before, and it’s never been captured before.”

During the 3 week expedition on the research vessel Sonne, the team of scientists employed state-of-the-art deep-sea imaging technology, including an ultra-deep free-falling baited camera system, to take a total of 6000 images between 4500 and 8000 meters deep within the trench.

Dr Alan Jamieson from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab, who led the expedition said: “Our findings, which revealed diverse and abundant species at depths previously thought to be void of fish, will prompt a rethink into marine populations at extreme depths.

Image courtesy Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen.