Some of the strangest animals ever discovered do not live on land. Instead, they live in the ocean, where weird creatures that live in the wild include things like a strange sea animal that is part shark and part pig.
However, these creatures are easily accessible by diving into the more shallow areas of the ocean. Those that live in the deepest parts are still yet to be discovered, as was made clear when experts discovered a new "ghostly" sea creature hunting at 26,000 feet below the surface of the sea.
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Dulcibella Camanchaca Is the "Ghostly" Sea Creature Hunting At 26,000 Feet
Dulcibella camanchaca shocked researchers by its size and the fact that it was a predator
Gammarus roeselii in the same order as Dulcibella camanchaca
Dulcibella camanchaca is a creature that looks like something out of a horror movie. The stark white crustacean-looking animal looks like no other, a lot of which has to do with the location it calls home.
In a study published in Systematics and Biodiversity, the Dulcibella camanchaca was introduced for the first time.
Meaning "darkness", the creature was named because of the environment it lives in, according to Dr. Johanna Weston, the study's co-lead author and a hadal ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, called the hadal zone. The hadal zone is miles below the surface of the ocean. It is an area where the sun is incapable of penetrating. But at 26,000 feet below sea level, with pressure experienced at 11,000 pounds of force, the Dulcibella camanchaca thrives.
"Dulcibella camanchaca is a fast-swimming predator that we named after 'darkness' in the languages of the peoples from the Andes region to signify the deep, dark ocean from where it predates." - Dr. Johanna Weston
With a ghostly white body that is a consequence of living in the deepest part of the ocean, Dulcibella camanchaca is four centimeters long. While its size was a shock to researchers, according to the study, given that it is larger than most amphipods, the fact that the Dulcibella camanchaca was a predator was more shocking still.
It was believed that most of the creatures in the hadal zone were scavengers. But with its appendages specialized to hunt smaller prey, not only was the Dulcibella camanchaca an anomaly, it was also a new species and a new genus as well.
Over the course of discovering more about Dulcibella camanchaca, it quickly became clear that there was much more to learn about the hadal zone than was ever believed.
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What The Hadal Zone Is And Why So Little Is Known About It
The hadal zone is the "deepest 45% of the ocean" that reaches depths of 3.7 miles to 6.8 miles below the surface of the sea
Hadal zone explanation
Until recently, very little was known about the hadal zone, the "deepest 45% of the ocean." All that was known was what Danish and Soviet expeditions were able to uncover in the 1950s. This changed in 2014 when technology advanced to allow deep-sea exploration to occur with gusto.
Initially, it was believed that very little life could exist in the hadal zone. At 3.7 miles to 6.8 miles below the surface of the ocean, a variety of trenches make up the zone. Given that the area is roughly the size of half the continent of Australia, there is a lot of sea floor that has still yet to be uncovered.
In 2014, the unmanned Nereus was the first submersible to begin to show researchers what life looked like in the hadal zone. To their surprise, some creatures were thriving in depths the sun could not penetrate.
Unfortunately, the Nereus was lost that year in the Kermadec Trench near New Zealand. However, manned expeditions to areas of the hadal zone occurred in its wake, allowing for firsthand views of the deepest parts of the ocean.
The technology used by researchers from WHOI and the Instituto Milenio de Oceanografía (IMO) is completely unlike anything that has been used in the past. For the first time, the technology allows researchers to see what is at the depths of the Atacama Trench.
But, the Atacama Trench is just a small portion of the hadal zone. To learn more about it and other areas of the hadal zone, future expeditions are needed. While there is an expedition planned for the Atacama Trench in October 2025, this is but a small area of the entire zone. Consequently, it is only until more areas of the hadal zone floor are explored that more will be learned about this vast region that is so under-explored.
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Why The Discovery Of Dulcibella Camanchaca Is Important
Discovering Dulcibella camanchaca is important given that it "highlights ongoing biodiversity discoveries" in the deepest parts of the ocean
Ampelisca brevicornis in the same order as Dulcibella camanchaca
With every expedition to the hadal zone, something new is discovered. But when Dulcibella camanchaca was discovered, it was an important breakthrough for science. This is because, according to Dr. Carolina González, co-lead author from the IMO, the predatory crustacean "highlights ongoing biodiversity discoveries" both in the Atacama Trench as well as the hadal zone at large.
"This study's collaborative effort and integrative approach confirmed Dulcibella camanchaca as a new species and highlights ongoing biodiversity discoveries in the Atacama Trench. This finding underlines the importance of continued deep-ocean exploration, particularly in Chile's front yard." - Dr. Carolina González
The discovery of Dulcibelle camanchaca as a new species also signified that the Atacama Trench is an "endemic hotzone," according to Dr. Weston.
"Most excitingly, the DNA and morphology data pointed to this species being a new genus too, emphasizing the Atacama Trench as an endemic hotspot." - Dr. Johanna Weston
What this means is that new aquatic species are waiting to be discovered in the Atacama Trench. If and when those are discovered, deep-ocean ecosystems will be better understood.
Additionally, how things like climate change around the world affect the environment and what can be done to conserve the ocean from both above and below will make more sense as well.