Science : Ghostly New fish discovered at record-breaking depths

Ghostly new fish discovered at record-
breaking depths
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It came from the deep. The very, very deep. Recorded
during a recent exploration of the Mariana Trench (the
deepest place on the planet), the strange-looking new
species has set a record for fish depth.
Jeff Drazen and Patty Fryer, the University of Hawaii
researchers who led the expedition, believe that this is a
new species of snailfish. From New Scientist :
Snailfish are known to thrive at extreme depths:
another variety, Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis,
previously held the undisputed record for
deepest-living fish at 7703 meters. Handling the
intense pressure of the deep sea is a challenge
for most animals because it impedes muscles and
nerves and bends proteins out of shape,
disrupting the working of enzymes required for
life.
But this creature, which was filmed several times at a
depth of 8,143 meters, or 26,715 feet, has a different body
shape from known species of snailfish, so it might be
something else entirely. But one thing is for certain, the
scientists told the BBC — it's definitely not a species
we've seen before.
"We think it is a snailfish, but it's so weird-looking; it's
up in the air in terms of what it is," Alan Jamieson of the
University of Aberdeen told the BBC. "It is unbelievably
fragile, and when it swims, it looks like it has wet tissue
paper floating behind it. And it has a weird snout — it
looks like a cartoon dog snout."
So how do these ghostly fish manage to live at these
crushing depths? Deep-sea fish have higher levels of a
chemical called trimethylamine oxide (TMAO). TMAO
helps proteins maintain their shape as pressure
mounts. Fish shouldn't be able hold enough TMAO in
their cells to live below 8,200 meters, according to recent
research by Jamieson — so these new fish may very well
be permanent record-holders.