Date:Tue 11/21/2023 8:00 AM
Happy Tuesday, everyone! Today's fish of the day is the Mariana snailfish!
The Mariana snailfish, known by scientific name Pseudoliparis swirei is known for their lives in the mariana trench, and their adaptations for the depth. They live almost exclusively in the hadal zone, leading to the nickname hadal snailfish, meaning stretches of the ocean made entirely out of V shaped depression in the ground and tunnels that can be anywhere between 6 to 12 kilometers below sea level, that's more than five miles below. Mariana snailfish are the deepest recorded fish, with a currently recorded depth range of 20,335–26,496 ft. Found in the Izu-Ogasawara trench, a Pacific trench that stretches from Japan to the northmost section of the Mariana trench.
The body is tadpole-esc in shape, like most snailfish, but unlike their far more shallow dwelling brethren, they lack almost all pigment, along with what appears to be little, or no eyesight, and in what is most interesting of all, there is incomplete ossification of it's bones, specifically the skull. There are large gaps where bone doesn't grow, as the pressure would crush it.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!