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'Faceless' fish discovered off coast of Australia

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Faceless fishImage source, John Pogonoski

An international team of scientists on a deep sea research voyage have found some rather strange creatures, including a "faceless" fish.

They've been using special cameras to look deep underwater off the coast of eastern Australia, around 4,000m below the surface.

At this depth, there's huge pressure, no light and it's extremely cold so animals there have evolved and found different ways to survive.

Chief scientist Tim O'Hara says it's "the most unexplored environment on Earth".

Image source, MUSEUMS VICTORIA/AFP/Jerome MELLEFET
Image caption,

Abraliopsis - a species of squid found on the trip

His team say that around one-third of what they've found are new species.

The faceless fish doesn't have any eyes, you can't see its nose, and its mouth is found underneath its body.

It has been recorded once before, in 1873, by the pioneering scientific crew of HMS Challenger off Papua New Guinea.