'Supergiant' Shrimp Found Near New Zealand

(NewsCore) - Scientists scouring the waters of the Kermadec Trench, north of New Zealand, have found a "supergiant prawn" at a depth of 4.35 miles (7km).

A photograph released by the research team showed one of the enormous prawn-like pale amphipods, a form of crustacean which usually grows to around just 1.2 inches (3cm).

Scientist Alan Jamieson, from the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab , said the supergiant version measured 11 inches (28cm), New Zealand news agency APNZ reported.

"I stopped and thought, 'What on Earth was that?' This amphipod was far bigger than I ever thought possible."

"They actually don't feel real," Jamieson told science news website OurAmazingPlanet. "They feel like plastic toys. They have a waxy texture to them."

Ashley Rowden, from New Zealand's National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, said for such a large and conspicuous animal to go unnoticed for so long showed how little was known about life in New Zealand's deepest habitat.

Read more: Our Amazing Planet