Marine researchers have announced the discovery of three new deep-sea snailfish, including the kind-of-adorable pink bumpy snailfish.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) underwater technology was used to identify a previously unknown snailfish first seen in 2019 near the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
Two other snailfish seen offshore of California by MBARI researchers were also announced in a new study by researchers with the State University of New York at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo), with scientists from the University of Montana and the University of Hawaii at Mānoa.
The bumpy snailfish first spotted in 2019 by a MBARI research team.
(MBARI)
According to MBARI, there are more than 400 snailfish species worldwide. These large-headed, jelly-like snailfish use their bellies to grip the seafloor, and some shallow-water snailfish curl up like snails.
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Photos shared by MBARI in a news release show the bumpy snailfish, whose features include large eyes, pink color and a large round head, in addition to the bumpy texture. It looks like a new candidate for a Squishmallow. A CT-scan by the Friday Harbor Laboratories showed the detailed skeleton and anatomy of the snailfish.
The bumpy snailfish was first observed by the MBARI Biodiverstiy and Bioptics team on the Western Flyer research vessel. About 62 miles offshore of Central California, a remotely operated vehicle spotted the small snailfish about 10,722 feet below the surface.
CT scans conducted at Friday Harbor Laboratories revealed the skeleton and internal anatomy of the bumpy snailfish complementing MBARI’s video observations to provide a detailed description of the fish’s morphology. (Credit: Steven Haddock/MBARI. Snailfish image/ CT image:Mackenzie Gerringer)
(MBARI/SUNY / FOX Weather)
The team then worked with SUNY Geneseo Associate Professor Mackenzie Gerringer on a detailed analysis.
“The deep sea is home to an incredible diversity of organisms and a truly beautiful array of adaptations,” Gerringer said in a statement. “Our discovery of not one, but three, new species of snailfishes is a reminder of how much we have yet to learn about life on Earth and of the power of curiosity and exploration.”
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This is the only known encounter of the bumpy snailfish, but MBARI researchers looked back on its underwater video archives and believe it was previously encountered offshore of Oregon in 2009 and mistaken for another species of snailfish.
In the study, the SUNY Geneseo team also described the newly discovered dark snailfish (Careproctus yanceyi) and the sleek snailfish (Paraliparis em).
