Fish Filmed 27,000 Below the Ocean’s Surface

Swimming at a depth of 8,336 meters, approximately 27,000 feet, a juvenile snailfish has officially become the deepest fish ever to be filmed by scientists during a quest into the deep blue of the northern Pacific Ocean. In addition to filming the sea creature, scientists also caught two other specimens at 8,022 meters (26,318 feet) and set a second record for the deepest catch. 

Announced on April 3 as part of a 10-year collaborative study between the University of Western Australia and the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, scientists used robotic cameras rigged with bait to film the creatures. The school regarded the record-breaking discovery the “world’s deepest fish.”

“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 in the news release. 

Despite the large and rather energetic population of fish living at these depths, the individual fish that claims the prize of the deepest ever found was a tiny juvenile. This is because snailfish tend to be the opposite of other deep-sea fish, where the juveniles live at the deeper end of their depth range.

Victor Vescovo supported the expedition at Caladan Oceanic and Inkfish.