Record: Ghost-Like Sea Creature Spotted At 26,700 Feet Below

A snailfish has been found lurking in record 26,700 feet below the surface.

Living in the darkness the translucent creature has an eel-like tail and stringy flippers.

University of Hawaii researchers Jeff Drazen and Patty Fryer filmed the fish during a 30-day trip to the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest of the planet.

According to magazine New Scientist, "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."
The newest snailfish, however, might not technically be a snailfish, Alan Jamieson of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland 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," he told the BBC. He said scientists wouldn't be able to confirm that the fish is a new species without catching it and pulling it up to the surface.

"It is unbelievably fragile, and when it swims, it looks like it has wet tissue paper floating behind it," Jamieson told the news outlet. "And it has a weird snout -- it looks like a cartoon dog snout."