By Sasha Pei-Silovo – EM TV Online
A joint expedition carried out by scientists from the University of Hawaii, University of Aberdeen, Washington’s Whitman College, Woods Hole Oceanographic, Schmidt Ocean Institutes and the international crew of research vessel Falkor have discovered a new species of fish in the deepest part of the world’s largest ocean, the Pacific.
The new fish species, yet to be named, were found swimming in the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean and also the Earth’s deepest location.
The fish said to be ‘diaphanous’ were seen gliding slowly by the on research vessel Falkor and can be seen in a video here filmed by the mud-coring lander of Schmidt Ocean Institutes.
The Mariana Trench is nearly seven miles deep at 36,201 feet and the researchers, using five landers (deep sea vehicles), focused the research on depths ranging from 16,404 to 34,777 feet. They also obtained the ‘deepest rock samples ever collected’ through their expedition.
The discoveries made, will enable scientists to have a better understanding of the marine life that live under the extraordinary conditions of the Mariana Trench, an elusive part of the ocean which is five times longer than the Grand Canyon.
The research also gives an accurate and deeper understanding of the Mariana Trench, and into climate change and how much carbon the sea takes in, and the overall effects on sea organisms there.
The trench is protected under the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument which covers approximately 61 million acres of submerged lands and the waters above, and was established in 2009 by former US President, George W. Bush.
