Deepest Fish Found Off the Coast of Japan Has a Face Only a Mother Could Love With Its Tadpole-Like Shape, Gelatinous Bodies

A snailfish set the record for the deepest-ever fish observed at over 27,000 feet. The record-breaking fish was observed on the coast of Japan.

Deepest Fish Discovered

A juvenile snailfish was filmed at 27,349 feet below sea level in the Pacific Ocean. The depth is nearly the same height as Mount Everest in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan.

According to lead researcher Professor Alan Jamieson, the snailfish may have survived at the greatest depth a fish can endure and most likely did so because of the warm waters of the trench, Daily Mail reported.

The deepest fish ever caught was a similar snailfish that was caught higher up at a depth of 26,319 feet, despite the snailfish not being caught properly to determine its species type.

Professor Jamieson told BBC News their expectations. He said they anticipated that if the deepest fish record were broken, it would be by a snailfish in tiny increments.

He added that they thought the deepest fish would be a snailfish, and they were right.

Jamieson said those who claim that they don't know anything about the deep oceans irritate him because they do. According to him, the world is evolving quickly.

The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, further south, at 26,830 feet, was the site of the previous deepest fish observation. Snailfish can be found worldwide, with over 300 different species listed.

Snailfish isn't attractive at all. They are shaped like tadpoles with huge heads and skinny bodies.

Species that have evolved to live in deeper depths can endure the intense pressure of the deep sea because of their gelatinous bodies.

Prof. Jamieson, who was born in Scotland, was also the one who discovered the deepest squid, octopus, jellyfish, and fish in our waters.

What's a Snailfish?

Britannica says snailfish are small and can only grow up to a maximum length of about 30 centimeters (12 inches). They have soft elongated bodies.

Some referred to them as tadpole-shaped fish, which are loose and scaleless. Sometimes they have prickly skins. They have a long dorsal fin on the back and a sucking disk below the head. The disk is formed from the pelvic fins and used to attach to the bottom.

Last year, a biofluorescent snailfish braved the Arctic water with built-in antifreeze. The glowing animals may have exquisitely evolved to survive in subzero temperatures. So, a warming climate could be a threat to their existence.

A stud published in the journal Evolutionary Bioinformatics discovered that tiny snailfish in Greenland have high levels of antifreeze proteins that enable them to survive in subzero temperatures.

The biology team startled themselves by discovering that one of the most actively generated proteins in the body was an antifreeze protein when they looked at the transcriptome-every gene of the snailfish to understand better how it produces light.

In the same way that antifreeze in your car prevents the water in your radiator from freezing in cold conditions, some animals have developed incredible machinery that prevents them from freezing, such as antifreeze proteins that stop ice crystals from forming, study co-author Gruber, a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and a distinguished biology professor at CUNY's Baruch College stated in a press statement.

Antifreeze proteins were first discovered 50 years ago by marine biologists. In order to survive in freezing surroundings, various organisms, including fish, reptiles, insects, and microbes, have developed antifreeze proteins. In the liver of snailfish, an antifreeze protein is produced that stops the formation of big ice grains in cells and bodily fluids. The blood of snailfish would solidify into ice if antifreeze protein were absent.

Check out more news and information on Animals in Science Times.