Thousands of Unknown Microbes Found in Deepest Ocean Trench

In the Challenger Deep, nearly 11,000 metres beneath the Pacific's surface, scientists have uncovered more than 7,000 microbial species, the vast majority never before described by any researcher. The discovery, emerging from the MEER project's extensive survey of the hadal zone, compels a fundamental reassessment of life's resilience at the planet's most extreme frontier.

For the better part of a century, the deepest ocean trenches remained largely uncharted territory. Scientists had mapped the Challenger Deep and even dispatched film director James Cameron there in 2012, yet the living inhabitants of these abyssal realms remained virtually unknown. The new microbial survey has begun to fill that void.