SYDNEY: Scientists have broken the record for the deepest fish ever caught, as well as the deepest fish ever filmed on camera.
Two snailfish were caught in traps set 8,022m underwater in the Japan Trench, south of Japan, during a two-month voyage by a team from the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Tokyo University of Marine Science.
The snailfish, of the Pseudoliparis belyaevi species, are the first to be caught below 8,000m, the expedition said. This beats the previous record in the Mariana Trench by 158m.
It wasn’t immediately clear how big the fish were, but the species has been recorded as reaching a length of close to 11cm.