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Macellicephaloides grandicirra, a species of polychaete worm known for its white, spiky appearance
 

A Chinese-led research team has captured images of life at depths of more than 30,000 feet—over 9.5 kilometers—for the first time. During an expedition to the Kuril–Kamchatka Trench and the western Aleutian Trench in the bathyscaphe Fendouzhe, the scientists discovered fields of tube worms, beds of mollusks, and mats of bacteria. Previously, the deepest marine vertebrate life captured on film was a snailfish swimming in a trench at 27,350 feet (8,336 meters) off the Japanese coast in 2023.

“It’s exciting—especially for a deep-sea scientist—to go to a place that human beings have not explored,” one of the lead researchers, Dr Xiaotong Peng, told BBC News. “It’s a great opportunity to discover new things. And what we saw was quite amazing.” The expedition explored trenches at depths of between 19,000 feet (5,800 meters) and 31,276 feet (9,533 meters), covering a distance of around 1,500 miles. Their work has just been published in the journal Nature.

In the absence of sunlight, the “chemosynthetic” organisms surviving at such depths get their energy from hydrogen sulfide and methane seeping out of cracks in the Earth’s crust. The researchers are aiming to understand how these animals convert these chemicals into energy—and also how they adapt to life under such extreme pressure.
 

Beds of mollusks feeding off the chemicals seeping from the seabed
 

Dense colonies of tube worms up to a foot long
 

Composite image of the Fendouzhe submersible in a deep ocean trench created by the scientific team
 

The bathyscaphe Fendouzhe, or Striver, pictured being transported (upside down) aboard its mother ship. The deep-submergence vehicle is designed to reach depths of more than 10,000 meters