TOKYO – Scientists have filmed a fish swimming at an extraordinary depth in the ocean, making it the deepest observation of this nature that has ever been made.
The species – a type of snailfish of the genus Pseudoliparis – was filmed swimming at 8,336 meters (27,349 feet).
It was filmed by an autonomous “lander” dropped into the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan.
The lead scientist said the snailfish could be at, or very close to, the maximum depth any fish can survive.
The previous deepest fish observation was made at 8,178m, further south in the Pacific in the Mariana Trench. This discovery therefore beats the depth record by 158 meters.
“If this record is broken, it would only be by minute increments, potentially by just a few meters,” Prof. Alan Jamieson told BBC News.
The University of Western Australia deep-sea scientist made a prediction 10 years ago that fish would likely be found as deep as 8,200 meters to 8,400 meters. A decade of investigations around the globe has confirmed this.
The juvenile Pseudoliparis was filmed by a camera system attached to a weighted frame released from over the side of a ship, the DSSV Pressure Drop. Bait was added to the frame to attract sea life.
Although a specimen was not caught to fully identify its species type, several fish were trapped slightly higher up in the water column in the nearby Japan Trench at a depth of 8,022 meters.
These, again, were snailfish, Pseudoliparis belyaevi, and set a record for the deepest fish ever caught. (BBC)
