Abyssobrotula galatheae

Description

Abyssobrotula galatheae, is a species of cusk eel in the family Ophidiidae. It is the deepest-living fish known; one specimen, trawled from a depth of 8,370 m (27,460 ft) in the Puerto Rico Trench in 1970, holds the record for the deepest fish ever captured. Although generally recognized, some have suggested that the record-breaking individual might have been caught with a non-closing net (a net that is open on the way up and down into the deep) and therefore perhaps caught shallower. The first examples of this fish were misidentified by Staiger as Bassogigas profundissimus, before being described as a new species by Jørgen G. Nielsen in 1977. The species name refers to the research ship Galathea, which captured the first specimens during the second Galathea expedition.