Scientists from Japan and the University of Western Australia have set the record for the deepest fish ever filmed and the deepest fish ever caught, according to new reports.
The researchers were on a two-month expedition in August 2022 in the deep trenches around Japan in the North Pacific Ocean when they discovered several species of snailfish at depths of more than 27,000 feet.
“We have spent over 15 years researching these deep snailfish; there is so much more to them than simply the depth, but the maximum depth they can survive is truly astonishing,” said UWA Professor Alan Jamieson.
Video of the fish recorded by the team of scientists in the Japan, Izu-Ogasawara and Ryukyu trenches can be viewed in the media player at the top of this article.
Guinness World Records recently certified the deep fish discovery. Guinness officials reported that the previous record for a deep fish discovery was a Mariana snailfish being observed in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific in May 2017 at a depth of approximately 26,800 feeet.
“In other trenches such as the Mariana Trench, we were finding them at increasingly deeper depths just creeping over that 8,000m mark in fewer and fewer numbers, but around Japan they are really quite abundant,” said Jamieson. “The Japanese trenches were incredible places to explore; they are so rich in life, even all the way at the bottom.”
According to a news release from the university, the Japan Trench team collected two fish in traps from around 26,000 feet.
“Until this expedition, no one had ever seen nor collected a single fish from this entire trench,” Jamieson said.
Do you have any newsworthy photos or videos to share? Upload them to KSAT Connect online or through the KSAT Weather App.