White Snailfish

A brand new kind of fish has just been found in one of the dark “lifeless” areas of the ocean. It was previously thought that the area was devoid of fish, researchers say.

This new kind of snailfish was discovered making its home at an amazing depth of 7 kilometers, in the Peru-Chile trench in the South East Pacific.

Large groups of cusk-eels and rather large scavengers were also found making themselves at home at these depths, which is a scientific first, researchers added.

The discoveries, in some of the deepest darkest recesses of our planet, were made by a group of marine biologists hailing from the University of Aberdeen, in conjunction with experts from Japan and New Zealand.

The team set out on a 21 day voyage, during which they made use of various deep-sea imaging equipment to snap photos of the murky depths, some 4500 meters to an astounding 8 kilometers within the trench.

This voyage was the seventh such voyage as part of HADEEP, a research project cooked up by the boys over at the University of Aberdeen’s Ocean Lab and the University of Tokyo’s Ocean Research Institute, along with the backing of New Zealand’s National institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

The use of the updated technology really gave researchers the boost they needed to discover this amazing find. Who knows what will be dredged up next? Science has been stale for such a long time, especially when you talk about the oceans, so it’s good to see some new discoveries being made right under our noses.

This week, Chilean president Michelle Bachelet signed into law a measure that outlaws all whale hunting in the Chilean part of the Pacific Ocean. The law prohibits all types of whale hunting; both commercial and scientific.

Whales have not been hunted off the Chilean coast for over three decades, but the government decided that a law was needed to emphasise the Chilean commitment to protect whales in Chilean territorial waters. President Bachelet says the law is “a big step ahead in the protection of nature and a major legacy to future generations.”

Several South- and Central American countries has already banned whale hunting, including Chile’s neighbour Argentina (Green on the map). Chile has a 6,435 km long coast line along the Pacific side of South America’s southernmost part, while Argentina has a 4,665 km long coastline along the corresponding Atlantic side of the continent. As you can see on the map, the new Chilean law has led to the creation of a whale sanctuary around the entire southern tip of South America. (Chile is red on the map)

Chile = Red, Argentine = Green