New Fish Species Discovered 4.5 Miles Under the Ocean 96
eldavojohn writes "The University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab (a partner in the recent census of marine life) has discovered a new snailfish. That might not sound very exciting, unless you consider that its habitat is an impressive four and a half miles below the ocean's surface (video). If my calculations are correct, that's over ten and a half thousand PSI, or about seventy-three million Pascals. The videos and pictures are a couple years old, as the team has traveled around Japan, South America and New Zealand to ascertain the biodiversity of these depths. The group hopes to eventually bring specimens to the surface. It seems the deepest parts of the ocean, once thought to be devoid of life, are actually home to some organisms. As researchers build better technology for underwater exploration, tales of yore containing unimaginable monsters seem a little more realistic than before."
Re:Depth is irrelevant. (Score:3, Insightful)
Depth is relevant... Because there is no light that deep. What is their food source? how do they survive? How did their species evolve to make sure they were born with the same internal pressure? Like your example states, these fish didn't just swim on DOWN there one day and decide to call it home...
Not for years (Score:4, Insightful)
" It seems the deepest parts of the ocean, once thought to be devoid of life, are actually home to some organisms."
Do we really have to hear this every effing time a new deep sea species is discovered? The deeps haven't been thought of as being devoid of life for decades, if ever.