Wildlife from the ocean’s deepest trenches has a bit of a reputation on land, either due to their inherently alarming appearances or historic associations with bad tidings.
However, The New York Times reported that researchers in collaboration with three universities and an oceanic research institute discovered a new deep-sea species that is axolotl-grade cute.
“Deep sea” is something of a catch-all term describing the depths in the oceans and seas where light from the surface gradually diminishes to nothing. Wildlife known to inhabit these deep reaches aren’t just elusive; the evolutionary traits they’ve evolved to thrive without light are often jarring, and the well-known lanternfish is one example.
Researchers from the State University of New York at Geneseo, the University of Montana, and the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, armed with equipment developed by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, recently identified three new species of snailfish.
The teams used a camera-equipped submersible to capture the images. Like trail cameras, advances in underwater photography provide wildlife experts and conservationists with unparalleled access to observe elusive and endangered forms of wildlife, often in challenging habitats.
They published their findings in the journal BioOne in late August, and the Careproctus colliculi, or “bumpy snailfish,” is the breakout star of the bunch. It’s not hard to see why.
“It’s pretty adorable,” admitted Mackenzie Gerringer, a marine biologist at SUNY Geneseo, per the Times. That’s a truly rare trait for a fish living 10,000 feet below the sea’s surface. Experts not directly involved with the discovery heartily agreed, including Joanna Weston, a deep ocean ecologist.
Johanna Weston of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution told the Times that snailfish tend to be friendly and exist in a vast array of “beautiful colors.”
“They also have a lovely little smile on their face,” Weston added. She pointed out that gaining insight into the ocean’s deepest depths is an important part of understanding our broader ecosystem.
“Our planet is a deep-ocean planet. So it’s really important for us to understand who they are and where they live and see them for their own beauty.”
Gerringer alluded to the immense value of the new remote surveillance technology researchers used to find three new species of deep-sea wildlife when discussing the findings.
“The fact that two undescribed species of snailfishes were collected from the same place, on the same dive, at one of the better studied parts of the deep sea in the world, highlights how much we still have to learn about our planet,” Gerringer observed.
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