Researchers exploring some of the deepest parts of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California have identified three new species of deep-sea snailfish.
The creatures were observed by underwater vehicles from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in 2019. The researchers were able to verify that these were new species after analyzing the specimens.
The identification and confirmation of these new species were carried out by a team from the State University of New York at Geneseo, in collaboration with MBARI and researchers from the University of Montana and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
One of the new snailfish species is the bumpy snailfish (Careproctus colliculi), characterized by its pink hue, long fin rays, and bumpy skin texture.
This new species was located approximately 62 miles off Central California’s coast, at depths exceeding 10,000 feet, within the Monterey Canyon’s outer reaches, thanks to MBARI’s underwater vehicle, Doc Ricketts.
The other two newly identified species, the dark snailfish (Careproctus yanceyi) and the sleek snailfish (Paraliparis em), were found in 2019 by MBARI’s submersible Alvin, about 130 miles from the California coast at a depth of slightly over 13,000 feet.
The dark snailfish has a black body with a rounded head and a horizontal mouth, while the sleek snailfish has a “long, black, laterally compressed body,” along with a “prominently angled jaw” and the absence of a suction disk, which is found on the bellies of many species of snailfish and helps them latch onto the seafloor or other animals.
Mackenzie Gerringer, the researcher who led the study, said that the three new species are “a reminder of how much we have yet to learn about life on Earth and of the power of curiosity and exploration.”
