Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis, or the hadal snailfish, is a species of snailfish from the hadal zone of the Northwest Pacific Ocean,[1] including the Kuril–Kamchatka and Japan Trenches.[2]
Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis | |
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Line illustration after photograph in Liney et al. (2016) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
Family: | Liparidae |
Genus: | Pseudoliparis |
Species: | P. amblystomopsis
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Binomial name | |
Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis (Andriashev, 1955)
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Synonyms[1] | |
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In October 2008, a team from British and Japanese institutes discovered a shoal of Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis at a depth of about 7,700 m (25,300 ft) in the Japan Trench. These were, at the time, the deepest living fish ever recorded on film.[3] The record was surpassed by a type of snailfish filmed at a depth of 8,145 m (26,700 ft) in December 2014,[4] and extended in May 2017 when another snailfish was filmed at a depth of 8,178 m (26,800 ft).[5] This deepest-water so-called ethereal snailfish remains undescribed,[2] but a close relative found only slightly shallower in the Mariana Trench was described as Pseudoliparis swirei in late 2017.[6][7]