The Deepest Fish Ever Filmed Lives Here

In September 2022 a camera at the bottom of a trench off Japan filmed a small pale fish 8,336 metres down, the deepest fish ever seen. In this film we dive from the surface to the bottom of the Challenger Deep, almost 11 km down, and meet the animals that live at every level: the barreleye with its see through head, the colossal squid first filmed alive in 2025, a string of clones estimated at 45 metres, anglerfish that fuse for life, a shark that may be close to 400 years old, and the life that runs without the Sun. On the way: the biggest migration on Earth, fish blacker than black, a fish that came back from the dead, an octopus that guarded her eggs for 53 months, and a plastic bag at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Then we ask how much of this world we have actually seen, and who wants to mine it first. 0:00 A fish where no fish should be 1:10 The surface 1:48 The twilight zone and the barreleye 2:25 The biggest migration on Earth 3:52 Red fish and ultra black fish 5:01 The giants: squid and a 45 m string 5:22 Sperm whales and the deepest diving mammal 7:05 The midnight zone: anglerfish and the vampire squid 8:48 Fangtooth, swallower, gulper and goblin shark 9:52 1977: life without the Sun 10:51 Yeti crabs and the iron snail 11:18 When a whale falls 12:09 The 400 year old shark 12:45 The fish that came back from the dead 13:21 The most patient mother on Earth 14:01 The abyss and the dumbo octopus 14:51 Casper and the headless chicken monster 15:38 The limit for fish, and the bottom 16:54 Vescovo, Fendouzhe and a plastic bag 17:44 How much have we seen? 18:31 The carbon pump 19:00 2026: the race to mine it 20:20 What we learned This film is for information and education only. Educational content only, not financial advice. Estimates are named as estimates. The 2026 mining application is described from the public record only. Sources NOAA (JetStream, Ocean Exploration, Ocean Service, AOML); WHOI; MBARI; UCL; CIMSS; Schmidt Ocean Institute; Western Australian Museum Martini and Haddock (2017); Robison and Reisenbichler (2009); Hoving and Robison (2012); Swann et al., Science (2020); Nielsen et al., Science (2016) Irigoien et al. (2014); Davis et al., Current Biology (2020); Schorr et al. (2014); Quick et al. (2020); Nakaya et al. (2016); Mahe et al. (2021) Barry et al., Science Advances (2023); Jamieson and Vecchione (2020); Jamieson et al. (2019); Sweetman et al., Nature Geoscience (2024) and critiques National Geographic; NPR; Live Science; ScienceAlert; Smithsonian; NHM London; IUCN; Australian Antarctic Division; Guinness World Records; Newcastle University Seabed 2030 / IHO (2026); Nippon Foundation; University of Essex (Ocean Census); ENB/IISD on the ISA (July 2026); NOAA deep seabed mining page (16 October 2026) Footage and images Deep sea footage: NOAA Ocean Exploration (public domain). Animations: our own. Stock footage: Pexels (Pexels License). Music: original. Wikimedia Commons: Alexei Orlov (CC BY 3.0); Amelia Guo (CC BY 3.0); Auckland War Memorial Museum (CC BY 4.0); Brian Suda from Reykjavík, Ísland (CC BY-SA 2.0); BrokenSphere (CC BY-SA 3.0); Chong Chen (CC BY-SA 3.0); Destination Kaikōura (CC BY 4.0); Emőke Dénes (CC BY-SA 4.0); Eric Kilby from Somerville, MA, USA (CC BY-SA 2.0); Eric Polk (CC BY-SA 4.0); FishesAreFriends1982 (CC BY 4.0); James A.R. McFarlane (CC BY-SA 3.0); Jozée Sarrazin / François H Lallier (CC BY 4.0); Jozée Sarrazin / Mathilde Cannat / Pierr (CC BY 4.0); Li Qihui, Liu Yaping, Li Guo, Wang Zhika (CC BY 4.0); Marie HENNION (CC BY 4.0); Marion & Christoph Aistleitner (CC0); Motokoka (CC BY-SA 4.0); Noémy MOLLARET (CC BY 4.0); Richard Varcoe on behalf of Caladan Ocea (CC BY-SA 4.0); Rouse, G.W., Goffredi, S.K., Johnson, S. (CC BY 3.0); Syced (CC0); Citron (CC BY 3.0); U+1F360 (CC BY-SA 4.0); Vlvescovo (CC BY-SA 4.0); WESTON, J.N.J. et al. 2020. New species (CC BY 4.0); Wanax01 Charles Davies (info) (CC BY-SA 4.0); Ifremer (CC BY 4.0); Wikimedia Commons contributor (CC BY-SA 3.0). Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons): Addison Emery Verrill; Christian Frederik Lütken; David Starr Jordan; G. H. Ford; G.H.Ford (1809-1876); Jonathan Couch; Laura (Laney) White (USGS Western Ecolog; Michigan State University/USFWS; NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio -; NOAA; NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration; NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Res; NOAA Okeanos Explorer; National Archives (NARA); National Marine Sanctuaries; Robert Mintern; Sandra Raredon/Smithsonian Institution; Vampire squid by Carl Chun, 1903. Image; unknown. #deepsea #ocean #documentary