3 fish species discovered on Pacific floor

PARIS: Scientists have discovered three new species of “hardcore” fish living in one of the deepest parts of the ocean, the see-through, scale-free creatures perfectly adapted to conditions that would instantly kill most life on Earth.

An international team of researchers used state- ofthe-art underwater cameras to find the new fish at the bottom of the Atacama Trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean at a depth of 7,500 meters (24,600 feet) -- and were surprised at their abundance in such an inhospitable environment.

“These things are right on the limit of what all fish can take so you might expect at that depth you’d maybe be lucky to see one or two eking out an existence,” Alan Jamieson, senior lecturer in marine ecology at Newcastle University said.

“But there’s a whole heap of them sitting there.” Temporarily named the pink, blue and purple Atacama snailfish, the previously unknown creatures are 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) long, translucent and have no scales.

They appear to be uniquely adapted to conditions four-and-a-half miles beneath the ocean surface, where the days are permanently pitch black and water temperatures barely top two degrees Celsius (36 Farenheit).

At such depths, the pressure is so great that larger animals would be crushed under their own mass.