Scientists became involved in a “major predator” at deep sea, naming it after elite sumo keepers

On a sunny winter day in 2016 marine biologist Yoshihiro found Fujiwara anchored off the central coast of Japan, measuring pudgy themed eels, when a hubbub suddenly exploded aboard a boat. The crew of the Shonan Maru had just landed a large, strange fish.

“Wow! We got coelacanth!” they mocked as they dragged a sample so large that it destroyed the mythical “living fossil” species found only in Africa and Indonesia.

Fujiwara, who have the unique knowledge of the “whale fall” communities – the rich ecosystems that grow around and feed whale carcasses – were equally excited and skeptical.

“It was inspiring,” he told CBS News. “But this is a well-studied bay.”

Of course it is. Researchers have been building a taxonomy of samples from Suruga, the deepest bay in Japan, since the 19th century.

The area is also one of the most fished in the world. Surely, Fujiwara thought, someone had seen this great creature before.

Surprisingly, no one did. Fujiwara and his team from the Japan Association for Marine Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) cross-examined information books and consulted with colleagues around the world before deciding on the shape creature. purple-hued from the depths is indeed a bonafide find.

Three more samples of the monster fish would be blackened that year, neatly preserved in formaldehyde or frozen for later study in the laboratory.

Separation, CT scans and other analysis were located on the sample within the alepocephalid family, a species of deep sea spread throughout the world and often referred to as “slickheads,” for their scaleless and gill-covered heads. But unlike its much smaller relatives, which average just 14 inches long, this was an animal: At 55 inches long and 55 pounds, it had the size and leg of a small baby.

Fujiwara and his team decided to name the new breed “slickhead yokozuna,” after the highest level in sumo fighting.

“I couldn’t believe it,” biologist Jan Yde Poulsen, a research associate with the Australian Museum and author of slippery heads, told CBS News from his center in Denmark.

Poulsen, who co-authored a paper in January with the JAMSTEC team at the slick head of yokozuna, was also suspicious when he received his first photo from the Fujiwara team.

“It’s a very grim picture, almost like when you see a picture of the Loch Ness monster,” he said. “The fact that you find a new species weighing 25 kilos is just unbelievable.”

Despite the hostile, black-and-white sea, the rod end was not just big, it was brawny. While other slickhead species picked up plankton and weakly swam, DNA analysis of the large fish ‘s stomach contents revealed that it was hunting other fish, possibly supplementing its diet by scouring.

Unlike the other world-known 100-plus slickhead species, the yokozuna is a lively swimmer, perhaps capable of covering long distances, as can be seen from a second or two of rare video that has been captured with a bait camera at a depth of nearly 8,500 feet.

In the mouth of the slickhead’s “wide gape” are several rows of teeth, tying up a monster outside the ground. Fujiwara’s team tried to count the full-package fangs and the completely unofficial decision: “80 to 100” teeth in those jaws.

The physical effects, in addition to biochemical analysis, identified the slick head of yokozuna as an apex predator – the deep-sea version of a lion whale or killer whale.

“We have so many divers around the world,” Fujiwara said. “But you rarely see a major predator.”

The marine group owns well-stocked areas of sophisticated marine and other deep-sea exploration vehicles, “but these are very noisy and use bright light,” Fujiwara said. “Most major predators are very active, so they (they) can easily escape from our submarine.”

His team decided that it would be more efficient to use specially made long lines – long enough for the ocean floor, with hundreds of mackerel-fed hooks – although they would take time. It takes up to four hours to use those ultra-long lines, which are left in the water overnight.

Although hundreds of new fish species are identified each year, the deep-sea seas still contain many mysteries that are difficult to access.

“We don’t know what’s down there,” Fujiwara said.