Every so often, the ocean's abyss reveals to us a creature so haunting as to inspire nightmares.
And then, there's the bumpy snailfish: an absolutely adorable, pink, knobbly critter shaped like an oversized tadpole, whose googly eyes and absent-minded smile surely merit a place in the next installment of Animal Crossing.
This heartwarming fellow is one of three newly discovered species of snailfish that were found off the coast of California at crushing depths of 3,268–4,119 meters (10,722–13,514 feet).
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The bumpy snailfish, Careproctus colliculi, is no doubt the most charismatic of all three making their taxonomic debut. But the dark snailfish, Careproctus yanceyi, and the sleek snailfish, Paraliparis em, are also exciting additions to the family.
The researchers collected specimens of each for closer analysis, adding to our understanding of the genetics, physiology, and ecology of these weird fishes.
Snailfishes (family Liparidae) are named as such because in the shallows, they often use the sucker-like disk on their belly to cling to rocks and seaweed, curling their tail around them. In deeper waters, they can use their abdominal disk to hitch a ride on a crab or ground themselves on the seafloor.
"The deep sea is home to an incredible diversity of organisms and a truly beautiful array of adaptations," says marine biologist Mackenzie Gerringer, from SUNY Geneseo. "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."
Snailfish are found in all Earth's oceans, from the bright shallows to the darkest depths. But while plenty have been recorded at hadal and bathyal depths, very few have been sighted in the ocean's abyss. As Gerringer has long suspected, the discovery of these new species suggests that far more snailfish inhabit the abyssal zone – we just haven't sampled those depths as much.
But our understanding of the deep is growing rapidly, with remotely operated vehicles like the Doc Ricketts, with which scientists collected these snailfish, offering up new visions of these uncharted ecosystems almost daily.
This is of growing importance, as industry also turns its eyes to the deep sea for mining of materials like cobalt and even hydrogen. Even without mining, we don't yet know enough about how human activities are affecting these ecosystems or, indeed, how they and their inhabitants affect us.
"Documenting deep-sea biodiversity is critical to detecting any changes that may be occurring in this environment," says Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) marine biologist Steven Haddock, who led the research expedition.
This research was published in Ichthyology and Herpetology.