For an animal, surviving in the ocean’s deepest trenches requires remarkable adaptations: a gelatinous body that can withstand pressure, bioluminescent features to guide it, and a transparent coloration for camouflage in the pitch-black darkness. The combination often gives deep-sea creatures an alien-like look.

Body characteristics needed for deep-sea survival can give creatures an alien-like look. But one scientist called the newly discovered bumpy snailfish "adorable."