The footage was captured by an automated device lowered into the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan, BBC reported on April 2.
Record Depth
Professor Alan Jamieson, a leading expert in deep-sea biology at the University of Western Australia, stated that the snailfish may have been living at the maximum depth at which fish can survive, or very close to it.
The previous record for fish observation was made at a depth of 8,178 meters below sea level, further south in the Mariana Trench of the Pacific Ocean. This discovery surpasses that record by 158 meters.
“If this depth record can be broken, it will likely only be by a few more meters,” Professor Jamieson told BBC.
Professor Alan Jamieson is a pioneer in using deep-sea dropping devices for ocean exploration. (Photo: Fivedeeps.com).
Ten years ago, Professor Jamieson predicted that this species of fish would be found at depths of 8,200 to 8,400 meters. A decade of global exploration and investigation has confirmed this.
The Pseudoliparis fish observed was still immature. It was filmed using a camera system attached to a heavy frame that was dropped from the side of the DSSV Pressure Drop vessel. Scientists attached bait to the frame to attract marine life.
Although the aforementioned snailfish was not brought up for full identification, several other snailfish have been captured slightly shallower in the nearby Japan Trench at a depth of 8,022 meters. They set the record for the deepest fish ever captured.
Equivalent to Being Pressed by 1,600 Elephants
Snailfish are indeed remarkable creatures. There are over 300 species, most of which live in shallow waters and can be found in river mouths.
Some Pseudoliparis snailfish captured at a depth of 8,022m. (Photo: Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Center).
However, there are also genera of snailfish that have adapted to life in the cold waters of the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as in the extreme pressure conditions found in the world’s deepest trenches.
At a depth of 8 kilometers, they endure pressures exceeding 80 megapascals, or 800 times the pressure at the ocean surface. Scientists estimate that this water pressure is equivalent to being weighed down by 1,600 elephants.
The absence of swim bladders, gas-filled organs that control buoyancy, as seen in many other fish species, is believed to confer an advantage to snailfish.
Similarly, their feeding approach supports their extraordinary pressure tolerance. Snailfish are suction feeders and consume small crustaceans, which are abundant in the trenches.
Professor Jamieson believes that the discovery of a fish living deeper than those found in the Mariana Trench may be due to the slightly warmer waters of Izu-Ogasawara.
He stated: “We predicted the deepest fish there would be a snailfish.”
“I feel frustrated when people tell me that we know nothing about the deep sea. And we have acted. Things are changing very quickly,” the expert noted.
So far, nearly a quarter of the Earth’s seabed has been mapped.
Professor Jamieson is the founder of the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Center. During this expedition, which also explored the Ryukyu Trench, he worked with a team from the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.
The DSSV Pressure Drop vessel with the Limiting Factor manned submersible was previously used by American explorer Victor Vescovo in 2018 and 2019 to visit the deepest areas of the five oceans on Earth.
The DSSV Pressure Drop is now owned by Inkfish and has been renamed Dagon. (Photo: Fivedeeps.com).
This Texas-based explorer became the first in history to conduct the deepest dive, with Professor Jamieson serving as his chief scientist at that time.
The vessel and submersible were sold last year to the marine research organization Inkfish and have been sent for refurbishment in San Diego.
They have also been renamed – the ship is now called Dagon and the submersible Bakunawa – and will return to the sea in June with Professor Jamieson again serving as chief scientist.
Scientists use bait to attract marine creatures to the camera of the observation device. (Photo: Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Center).
Professor Jamieson, born in Scotland, is credited with discovering not only the deepest fish in the ocean but also octopuses, jellyfish, and squids at the deepest recorded depths.
