Scientists set a new mark for fish filmed in the deepest waters ever

Scientists have beaten the mark for the deepest fish ever recorded after capturing the so-called “snailfish” at over 27,000 feet underground, according to CNN.

The footage was shot in the North Pacific Ocean, near Japan, in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench.

University of Western Australia

“What is significant is that it shows how far a particular type of fish will descend in the ocean,” said Alan Jamieson, the marine biologist who led the expedition. 

According to the BBC, the snailfish was reported to be a juvenile, which means it can live in much deeper areas than its adult counterparts, and it was said to be approaching the limit of depth for a fish to possibly survive in the ocean.

“There is so much more to them than simply the depth, but the maximum depth they can survive is truly astonishing,” Jamieson remarked. He added: “If this record is broken, it would only be by minute increments, potentially by just a few meters.”

Most snailfish live in shallow water, but their gelatinous bodies have allowed some to effectively adjust to the high pressures found in tunnels, according to the BBC. The water pressure at the depth where the snailfish was recorded is 800 times greater than at the ocean’s top. Because the seas in the Izu-Ogasawara trench are marginally warmer, snailfish are more apt to pass through.

Scientists would like to explore deeper, but “technology has been expensive and scientists don’t have a lot of money,” Jamieson said. “I get frustrated when people tell me we know nothing about the deep sea. We do. Things are changing really fast,” he told BBC.