Deep-Sea Submersible Stumbles Upon 'Unusually Large' Sea Creature Nearly 6,000 Meters Below The Surface

Deep-Sea Submersible Stumbles Upon 'Unusually Large' Sea Creature Nearly 6,000 Meters Below The Surface

Deep-Sea Submersible Stumbles Upon 'Unusually Large' Sea Creature Nearly 6,000 Meters Below The Surface About 310 miles off the coast of Tokyo, Japan, a small team of researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology recently squeezed into a deep-sea submersible and dove deep below the ocean’s surface.  It was there, 5,922 meters below sea level, that the marine researchers zeroed in on a pale sea creature that had almost slipped past their vision completely.  It was a limpet, an aquatic sea snail.  It may look unassuming at first glance, but this sea snail was unusually large for its size, with a shell length of “40.5 mm.” By comparison, most limpets are roughly half that size.  “Our new species is most similar to B. linseae from the Weddell Sea, but can be distinguished by its much more developed second lateral and marginal teeth, as well as a larger size,” wrote lead author, Dr. Chong Chen, for the journal Zoosystematics and Evolution. Previously, only two…