Aberdeen scientists catch snailfish on camera
Deep-sea fish on film for first time
Published:
DOWN in the darkest depths of the ocean lie the mysteries of the sea.
And for the first time, Aberdeen scientists have caught some on camera.
Sociable snailfish were seen swimming together nearly five miles (7,700m) beneath the Pacific Ocean.
And a team from the University of Aberdeen said footage “vastly exceeded” what members hoped to achieve.
Project leader Dr Alan Jamieson said: “We got some absolutely amazing footage from the 7,700m.
“More fish than we or anyone in the world would ever have thought possible at these depths.
“It’s incredible. These videos vastly exceed all our expectations from this research.”
And Professor Monty Priede, director of the university’s sub-sea research facility Oceanlab, said: “We thought the deepest fish would be motionless, solitary, fragile individuals eking out an existence in a food-sparse environment.
“But these fish aren’t loners. The images show groups that are sociable and active, possibly even families, feeding on little shrimp, yet living in one of the most extreme environments on Earth.
“All we’ve seen before of life at this depth have been shriveled specimens in museums. Now we have an impression of how they move and what they do.”
Working from the Japanese research ship the Hakuho-Maru, it was the first time cameras had been so deep.
The work is part of Oceanlab’s HADEEP project, which sees scientists work with others from the University of Tokyo to investigate life in the hadal region of the ocean – anything more than 6,000m down.
The hadal snailfish have to contend with total darkness and near freezing temperatures
In addition, the pressure is 8,000 tonnes per square metre – equivalent to that of 1,600 elephants standing on the roof of a Mini car.
They feed on the thousands of tiny shrimp-like creatures that scavenge for dead fish and detritus reaching the ocean floor.
The expedition was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Nippon Foundation in Japan.
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