Deepest fish and 'supergiants' filmed in the Mariana Trench
Scientists at the University of Aberdeen have set a new record for the world's deepest fish, filmed in the Mariana Trench - the deepest place on Earth. The new finding was just one of several new species discovered, as well as the first footage of the mysterious ‘supergiant’ amphipod filmed alive. The footage was recorded using the UK’s deepest diving vehicle – the Hadal-Lander – a vehicle designed and built entirely in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. An international team of marine biologists, geologists, microbiologists and geneticists, including those from the University of Aberdeen’s Oceanlab, have just returned from the first detailed study of the Mariana Trench aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research Vessel Falkor. The team completed an unprecedented92 deployments of deep-sampling equipment across the entire depth range of the trench; 5000 m – 10,600 m. The video footage, captured by scientists from Oceanlab depicts a type of snailfish at depths of 8145 metres deep – the greatest depth a fish has ever been observed, beating their own 2008 record by nearly 500 metres. The team had already discovered a new species of snailfish living between 6000 and 8000m, itself a depth record, but it was an elusive and extremely fragile second species that had them surprised.