Deepest-dwelling fish ever seen is a ghostly snailfish spotted more than 27,000 feet beneath the ocean surface

A group of snailfish swim near a baited camera at a depth somewhere between 24,600 and 26,900 feet (7500-8200 m) in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench near Japan. (Image credit: The University of Western Australia)

A ghostly white snailfish has unknowingly smashed the record for the deepest fish ever seen after it was filmed at more than 27,000 feet beneath the ocean surface. 

Scientists on board the research vessel DSSV Pressure Drop stumbled across the snailfish, which is likely a juvenile, in September 2022 while using a remotely operated submersible attached with a baited camera in the Izu-Ogasawara Trench in the western Pacific, near Japan. The snailfish species is unknown, but scientists believe it belongs to the genus Pseudoliparis. It was spotted at a record-breaking depth of 27,349 feet (8,336 meters).