Record breaking dive in Pacific Ocean finds new species and plastic litter

by Behnan Thomas

EM3 19 News Int DiveAn American voyager, Victor Vescovo, has broken the record for the deepest dive ever by descending nearly 11km to the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench, the lowest place in the ocean. The 4-hour dive in the submarine “DSV Limiting Factor”, built specifically to endure the immense pressure of the deep ocean uncovered what looks like four new species of prawn-like crustaceans called amphipods. The dive also saw a spoon worm at about 7,000m depth and and a pink snailfish at 8,000 m. Unfortunately, the dive also uncovered plastic pollution in the form of what the team thinks is a plastic bag and some sweet wrappers on the ocean floor. Confirmation is still ongoing. The 10,927m dive is the third time humans have descended to the deepest point in the ocean preceded only by Canadian film-maker James Cameron in 2012 reaching a depth of 10,908 meters and before that by the US Navy in 1960, reaching a depth of 10,912 meters, beating the record with a mere 15 meters.

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