Scientists Discover The Deepest-Ever Fish In The Mariana Trench – Over 5 Miles Underwater!

While we’re busy looking for extraterrestrial life in space, there are alien-like creatures right here on Earth. There is so much of the planet that is undiscovered including the Mariana Trench, which is the deepest part of the Earth’s oceans. The trench has a maximum-known depth of 36,070-feet at a small valley in its floor known as the Challenger Deep. The Mariana Trench is so deep that the highest mountain on Earth, Mount Everest, could be completely submerged into the massive crevice and still have more than a mile of water to spare. Scientists have explored the Mariana Trench and discovered the deepest-dwelling fish in the world.

Deep-sea expeditions have brought a light to the Mariana snailfish, which scientists believe is the deepest fish in the sea. Officially named the Pseudoliparis swirei, this fish is not only able to withstand the extreme water pressure of the trench as well as the lack of light, but it thrives in this deep-water environment. “Snailfishes have adapted to go deeper than other fish and can live in the deep trenches,” says Thomas Linley, co-author of a study describing the snailfish. “Here they are free of predators, and the funnel shape of the trench means there’s much more food. There are lots of invertebrate prey and the snailfish are the top predator. They are active and look very well-fed.”

A CT scan of the Mariana snailfish shows the red skeleton and scary-looking teeth of the creature with the green color a small crustacean in its stomach as seen in these images from the University of Washington. This image makes the deep-sea animal appear very menacing, but a regular photo shows that it is not as alien-like as you’d imagine. The snailfish is relatively small at two-inches-long, translucent, and has no scales, looking kind of like a giant tadpole. The Pseudoliparis swirei has been spotted several times at 26,200-feet, but this is the first time they have been seen at the record-breaking depth of 26,830-feet in the western Pacific Ocean. That’s FIVE miles underwater.

“This is the deepest fish that’s been collected from the ocean floor, and we’re very excited to have an official name,” said lead author Mackenzie Gerringer, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories. “They don’t look very robust or strong for living in such an extreme environment, but they are extremely successful.” “There are a lot of surprises waiting,” says Gerringer. “It’s amazing to see what lives there. We think of it as a harsh environment because it’s extreme for us, but there’s a whole group of organisms that are very happy down there.”

Also seen in the depths of the Mariana Trench is the ominous-looking Anoplogaster cornuta.

[UWNews]