The previously unknown snailfish species of the genus pseudoliparis was filmed in the Izu-Ogasawara trench in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan.
“The Japanese graves were incredible places to explore, they are so rich with life, even all the way to the bottom,” said Professor Alan Jamieson of the University of Western Australia, in a statement.
He led the project, which has been carried out in collaboration with researchers from Japan’s Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology. Among other things, the team has deployed cameras with bait for fish in the deepest parts of the deep sea trench.
The fish photographed by an underwater camera was an extremely small juvenile. A few days after the record image, the researchers caught two fish of the species Pseudoliparis belyaevi in traps at a depth of 8,022 meters. They were the first fish to be caught at greater depths than 8,000 meters.
“We’ve spent over 15 years researching these deep-sea gastropods. It’s about so much more than just depth, but the maximum depth at which they can survive is truly astonishing,” says Professor Jamieson.
The previous depth record, also a snail fish, was recorded at 8,178 meters in the Marianer Trench in 2017.