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upstart writes:

Images of the previously unknown snailfish species were taken deeper than 8,000 meters, off the coast of Japan:

Researchers using baited camera traps recorded an unknown species of snailfish more than 5 miles (8 kilometers) deep just off the coast of Japan. These are the deepest fish ever caught on film.

A team with the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology and the University of Western Australia recently released the footage, which was collected in September 2022 in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, which is just south of Japan. Cameras captured the unknown snailfish that belongs to the genus Pseudoliparis at 8,336 meters (5.1 miles) underwater, according to a press release from the University of Western Australia.

[...] The snailfish found in the Izu-Ogasaware Trench do not have any scales. They're covered in a gelatinous layer and do not have a swim bladder like other fish species do, The Guardian reports. This allows them to live under the extreme pressure found in the deepest parts of the ocean.

The expedition was part of a 10-year study into the deepest fish population on the planet. Researchers set out to study the Izu-Ogasaware, Ryukyu, and Japan trenches—all of which are over 7,000 meters (4.3 miles) deep. According to researchers, the recently released images show how different the Pacific Ocean's trenches are to others around the world. Alan Jamieson, a chief scientist in the expedition, explained in the UWA release that, in the Mariana Trench, the deeper researchers look, the less fish there are. But in the trenches around Japan, there are a lot of fish to be found even at extreme depths.

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