Look at these creepy fish that live deep in the Pacific Ocean

Newly discovered fish species in a trench off the west coast of South America.

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Newcastle University)

published 11 September 2018

Space may be the final frontier, but let's not forget that there's another dark mystery lurking right here on our own planet — the ocean.

Scientists from 40 countries around the world have teamed up and discovered three new species of fish from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, ones that are almost nothing like most of the fish we know. For one thing, they have no scales.

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Their squishy, translucent bodies are very well-suited to deep oceans, where the extreme water pressure and cold temperatures keep their forms more or less in line, USA Today explained. But closer to the surface, without that support, "they are extremely fragile and melt rapidly," said one of the researchers, Thomas Linley. The strongest bones in their bodies are their teeth, which makes them the perfect predator for the invertebrate species that populate the ocean floor.

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Shivani is the editorial assistant at TheWeek.com and has previously written for StreetEasy and Mic.com. A graduate of the physics and journalism departments at NYU, Shivani currently lives in Brooklyn and spends free time cooking, watching TV, and taking too many selfies.

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