A new species of crinoid fish has been discovered at a depth of 10,700 feet. (Image credit: © 2019 MBARI)
A lumpy pink fish with blue eyes and beard-like appendages was captured on video hovering above the muddy bottom of Monterey Canyon more than 10,700 feet (3,300 metres) below the coast of California.
This strange little snail, captured on camera by a team led by researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), turns out to be one of three newly discovered species of snails that live in the perpetual darkness and crushing pressure of the ocean depths.
Slugs are unusual even by the standards of deep-sea organisms. Some have a kind of suction cup on their bellies that allows them to cling to rocks or other animals. There are more than 400 known species of slugs, which live in ecosystems from shallow tidal pools to the deepest trenches on Earth.
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“In addition to being an important part of the ecosystem, crinoids give us the opportunity to study evolution in the deep ocean within a single family,” team leader Mackenzie Gerringer, an assistant professor of biology at the State University of New York at Geneseo, told Live Science.
“By comparing shallow-water crinoids with their deep-sea relatives, we can better understand what adaptations are needed for life at great depths,” Gerringer added.
Scientists discovered a new species of pink “spike” lily (Careproctus colliculi) in 2019 while exploring Monterey Canyon using a remotely operated vehicle.
Later that year, dives using the manned submersible Alvin at depths of 13,100 feet (4,000 m) revealed two more new snail species: the jet-black “dark snailfish” (Careproctus yanceyi) and the “smooth snailfish” (Paraliparis em), a slender species without a suction disc.
The snailfish Careproctus colliculi was captured on video in 2019 off the coast of California.
“Telling lithiformes apart is a puzzle,” Gerringer said. “We look closely at a variety of features, such as the number of vertebrae and fin rays, the arrangement of sensory pores, and the shape and size of the specialized suction disc that some species use to attach themselves ventrally to rocks.”
The team collected measurement data and examined various features, as well as genetic information, to compare the new specimens to all other known lithoid fishes and find matches. “With each new piece of evidence, it became clear that these three fishes belong to an undescribed species, previously unknown to science,” she said.
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The findings, published August 27 in the journal Ichthyology and Herpetology, show not only that slugfish thrive at these crushing depths, but that there is more extensive and rich biodiversity in this environment yet to be discovered.
“Access to the deep ocean itself is the biggest challenge of this research and requires collaboration between engineers, scientists and ship crews,” Gerringer said. “Discovering a new deep-sea species requires many people pooling their knowledge and expertise to achieve a common goal.”
“The fact that two undescribed species of lithium fish were caught in the same place, during the same dive, in one of the most studied parts of the deep sea in the world, highlights how much we still have to learn about our planet,” she said.
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Content Manager, Space.com
Kenna Hughes-Castleberry is the content manager at Space.com. She previously worked as a science communicator at JILA, a physics research institute. Kenna is also a freelance science journalist. Her interests include quantum technology, artificial intelligence, animal intelligence, corvids, and cephalopods.
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