In our aquariums we often like to culture a diverse culture of ‘Pods’ including amphipods, copepods and ostracods but our tanks would look wildly different if we were aiming for an authentically deep sea refugium. Take for example these giant amphipods which were collected more than four miles deep off the coast of New Zealand.
Researchers are working near the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean this week, dropping various packages bristling with all kinds of sensors, sampling instruments and of course cameras so we can get a good look at what’s going on way down there. The most interesting part of this investigation for us aquarists is how they bait traps with chicken to attract the otherworldy sealife that calls the bottom of the trench home. [NPR]
And then we’ve got this unreal looking ghostly fish that was observed living deeper than any other fish we know about. Recorded swimming at a a depth of 8143 meters deep, this ethereal creature calls the abyss of the Mariana Trench its home, more than five miles below the ocean’s surface.
The unusual and record-setting creature is believed to be a kind of snailfish but this extreme species really lives on the edge. The presumed relative of snailfish is completely different from what has been seen before with a translucent body, wing like pectoral fins, bizarre appendages for pelvic fins, and an eel-like tail. [iO9]
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