Thanks to increasingly advanced imaging technologies, researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), in collaboration with SUNY Geneseo, have an unprecedented ability to glimpse rare and previously unknown marine species.
In 2019, an encounter with an unfamiliar pink snailfish, which swam just above the sea floor, led to the documented discovery of a species not yet known to science: the bumpy snailfish. Detected in the deep ocean off the coast of California, this small, light pink-colored vertebrate is characteristic of a snailfish with a large head, jelly-like body, and a narrow, thin tail.
“Many snailfish species have a disk on their belly that allows them to grip the seafloor or hitchhike on larger animals, such as deep-sea crabs,” says MBARI communications specialist Raúl Nava. “Shallow-water snailfishes often cling to rocks and seaweed, curling up like a snail.”
MBARI researchers used a combination of microscopy, micro-computed tomography (micro-CT), and measuring techniques to collect detailed information about the snailfish. They also employed DNA sequencing methods to distinguish each of the three newly found fish from all other known species, confirming they’re totally unique. This also allowed scientists to determine their evolutionary position in the broader Liparidae family, to which snailfish belong.
Dark, bumpy, and sleek snailfish were all named by scientists in this new report. The bumpy snailfish is slightly pink and, like its name suggests, has an overall texture with loose skin that’s a little bumpy. The dark snailfish is fully black in color, and the sleek variety has a uniquely long body and doesn’t possess a suction disk. Sleek indeed.
Take a deep dive into MBARI’s recent findings, plus numerous other underwater discoveries, on the program’s website.
