Adorable Deep Sea Snailfish Found Thriving In Crushing Darkness
A pink, bumpy fish the size of a hand drifted into camera view more than 3,200 meters below the surface off Central California. Researchers later confirmed it as the bumpy snailfish, one of three newly described deep-sea snailfishes from the abyssal seafloor of Monterey Canyon, according to Phys.org.
The specimen was filmed and collected during 2019 dives that used MBARI’s remotely operated vehicle Doc Ricketts and the crewed submersible Alvin.
Photo: YouTube / MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)
The bumpy snailfish was discovered over 10,000 feet deep in Monterey Canyon.
Three New Faces: Bumpy, Dark, and Sleek
The new trio includes the pink bumpy snailfish (Careproctus colliculi), plus two black relatives: the dark snailfish (Careproctus yanceyi) and the sleek snailfish (Paraliparis em). All were found thousands of meters down, with the two black species collected on a single Alvin dive at Station M, a long-running abyssal research site. Their diagnostic traits were teased apart with genetics, microscopy, and micro-CT scanning, Phys.org reports. Photo: YouTube / MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)
Why the Bumpy Snailfish Stands Out
Video shows the bumpy snailfish maneuvering with unusually expressive pectoral fin rays—22 in total—while sporting a round head, large eyes, and a distinctive pebbled texture. Color matters less where sunlight never reaches, so its bubble-gum hue contrasts sharply with its inky neighbors without affecting survival, IFLScience explains. The dark species carries a fully black body and rounded head, while the sleek species lacks a suction disk and has a long, laterally compressed shape—traits that helped confirm all three as new to science.
A Family Built for Pressure
Snailfishes (family Liparidae) thrive from tide pools to trenches and include the world’s deepest-dwelling fishes. Typical features include gelatinous bodies, loose skin, and, in many species, a belly disk used to cling to rocks or even hitchhike on other animals, Britannica reports. That wide ecological spread lets scientists compare close relatives across extreme depth gradients, sharpening questions about how bones, muscles, and sensory systems function under crushing pressure and near-freezing temperatures.
Photo: YouTube / MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)
The bumpy snailfish is one of three newly described snailfish species.
What We Still Don’t Know
Only one bumpy snailfish has been confirmed so far, leaving its full range and behavior open questions. Archive video hints it may appear beyond Monterey Bay, but researchers need more encounters to map its habitat. Meanwhile, the Station M time-series provides context for its black cousins, linking new species to decades of abyssal ecosystem data, Phys.org notes. Together, these finds show how modern submersibles and careful lab work continue to reveal surprising—and yes, adorable—life far below the waves.
