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In their latest trip to the Atacama Trench, one of the deepest points in the Pacific Ocean, a team of scientists repeatedly lowered a device called a deep-sea lander overboard and watched as it sank into the cold, dark waters.

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The lander — essentially a high-tech trap outfitted with bait, monitors and underwater cameras — would take four hours to fall all the way to the bottom of the ocean, nearly five miles deep in some areas of the Atacama Trench, off the coast of Peru and Chile. But once there, it began recording footage of life that has rarely been documented.

What researchers captured on camera were three new species of the “elusive” snailfish, living more than 6400 m beneath the surface, according to Newcastle University, which announced the findings Monday.

Photo by wcastle University / Natural History Museum, London

On video, the newly discovered snailfish appeared to be long and gelatinous, with translucent skin and an ethereal movement, as they fed on bait lowered with the trap. The fish also seemed far larger than other organisms captured on camera near the bait.

The new species have temporarily been named the pink, blue and purple Atacama snailfish, part of the Liparidae family, scientists said. And they’re doing all right for themselves.