Notoliparis kermadecensis | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
Family: | Liparidae |
Genus: | Notoliparis |
Species: | N. kermadecensis
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Binomial name | |
Notoliparis kermadecensis (Nielsen, 1964)
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Notoliparis kermadecensis (from Greek: noton, back, and liparos, fat) is a species of snailfish (Liparidae) that lives in the deep sea. Endemic to the Kermadec Trench in the Southwest Pacific, it is hadobenthic with a depth range between 6,474 and 7,561 m (21,240–24,806 ft),[1] and can reach a standard length of up to 25.8 cm (10.2 in).[2]
It is among the deepest living fish; in the Southern Hemisphere only Echiodon neotes has been recorded deeper, at 8,200–8,300 m (26,900–27,200 ft).[1] A few species from the Northern Hemisphere have been recorded at similar or deeper depths than N. kermadecensis, including the snailfish Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis from the Kuril–Kamchatka and Japan Trenches.[1] These two species apparently share a common ancestor and occupy similar hadal depth ranges, yet they can only survive at immense pressure and are geographically isolated, and their evolutionary history remains enigmatic.[3] There are indications that the larvae of N. kermadecensis and other hadal snailfish spend time in the open water at relatively shallow depths, less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft).[4]