Microorganisms unknown to science found in a deep-sea trench in the Pacific Ocean

     At a depth of eight thousand meters in the Peruvian-Chilean (Atacama) trench, scientists found microorganisms unknown to science. The expedition expects to sink to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean again and conduct additional research, writes ScienceAlert.

    “We found geological structures and saw holothurians - translucent sea cucumbers, they look like jelly. Before that, they did not come across, most likely, these are new species, ”said Oswaldo Ulloa, director of the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Concepción.

    According to Ulloa, the expedition members also discovered filamentous communities of bacteria and confirmed the information about the existence of amphipods, crustaceans, which were spotted by a drone in the depression in 2018, at depth. 

    The Atacama Trench is located off the coast of Chile in the Pacific Ocean at the junction of two plates - Nazca and South America. The depression was discovered at the end of the 19th century during cable laying. The gutter is 5.9 thousand kilometers long and 30-90 kilometers wide.