World's deepest fish found by scientists - and it's weird

Scientists Discover Deepest Swimming Species

Scientists have discovered the deepest swimming fish ever recorded.

The translucent white fish has wing-like fins and a tail resembling that of an eel.

An international team of researchers took part in an expedition to Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world's oceans, and discovered the never-before-seen species, thought to be a snailfish more than five miles below sea level.

According to the BBC, the weird-looking creature was found 8,145m beneath the waves. Several other new species were discovered on the trip.

Dr Alan Jamieson, from Oceanlab at the University of Aberdeen, said: "We think it is a snailfish, but it's so weird-looking; it's up in the air in terms of what it is.

"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."

The discovery sets a new record for the deepest fish ever found, breaking the previous one by more than 1600 feet.

National Geographic reports that the researchers drew the fish to a deep-sea camera but had no way of catching it. Without a specimen they cannot give the fish a formal description or scientific name.

Fish cannot live any deeper than 8,200 metres in the ocean.