Scientists have encountered a new enigma after filming an unusual marine creature at the bottom of a deep canyon in the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of nearly 30,000 feet, approximately 9,137 meters. There, the pressure is almost 1,000 times higher than at sea level.
The organism, white in color with a "ghostly" appearance, was filmed at the bottom of the Ryukyu Trench in the Philippine Sea, along the eastern edge of Japan's Ryukyu Islands. According to researchers, it resembles a transparent sea snail but has several peculiar lobes that have not been identified before.
The creature has a body divided into two symmetrical parts, a characteristic similar to sea snails, but its unusual structure has made classification impossible. It was filmed at the record depth of 9,137 meters during a two-month expedition led by the University of Western Australia.
The expedition was conducted aboard the research vessel DSSV Pressure Drop, where the team explored three of Japan's deepest submarine canyons: the Japan Trench, the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, and the Ryukyu Trench. The creature was filmed twice with high-definition cameras mounted on the crew-operated submersible.
Scientists have temporarily recorded it as "Animalia incertae sedis," a term used when an organism belongs to the animal kingdom but cannot yet be placed in any known scientific group. According to reports, this creature moved slowly over the seabed and has left experts puzzled, as it currently cannot be determined which biological family it belongs to.
During the trench research, scientists also discovered more than 1,500 stalked crinoids anchored to rocks, as well as carnivorous sponges. Researchers identified 108 different groups of organisms, including fish species, that have broken depth records.