A team of about 40 scientists from seven countries has returned to shore after an unprecedented month-long voyage examining life four kilometres below the ocean surface.

Among the crew was Warrnambool Deakin University student Jasmine Bursic, who described the trip along Australia’s east coast as an incredible experience.

“I was very lucky,” she said.

“The best thing was ... working alongside so many amazing people. They were all such incredible scientists.”

Their mission saw them trawling the abyss beyond the edge of the Australian continental shelf about 60km out to sea, in search of the creatures that live between two and a half and four kilometres below the ocean’s surface.

Ms Bursic, a marine biology student, worked 12-hour shifts from 2am to 2pm helping to sort the discoveries brought up from the bottom of the ocean.

“(The net) took up to eight hours to go down and back up again,” she explained.

“Every time the net came up it was exciting. People were … working outside of their shifts – that’s how excited they were. There was a lot of anticipation (because) we never knew what we were going to get.”

What they got was remarkable. Dozens of new species and never-before-seen bioluminescent versions of existing species where among the finds, as well as rarely sighted creatures and animals previously unseen in Australian waters.

From the phallic peanut worm to faceless cusk fish, from a manta ray carcass to a whale skull, the objects and animals brought up from four kilometres down were rarely dull, Ms Bursic said. 

It’s certainly captured attention – US late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and media outlets in the US and UK have been among those covering the voyage, mostly so they can make jokes about the peanut worm (pictured).

The approximately 5000 samples brought up from the abyss floor will be studied at museums around the world.

The voyage on the Marine National Facility research vessel Investigator was led by Dr Tim O’Hara of Museums Victoria and involved scientists from the CSIRO, Museums Victoria, and other Australian and international museums and research agencies.

“Every day (one) of the scientists would get up and give a talk about their work – it was really interesting,” Ms Bursic said, adding that she chatted “to a different scientist every day … about their (career) path and how they got where they are … and learning a bit about their field”.