An era of discovery is upon us.
Earth is an oceanic planet with more than 70% of its surface covered by seas. With on the high seas robots, scientists regularly reveal new information about the most mysterious realms of these vast waters. Many alien ecosystems live in previously unknown canyons or cling to submerged mountains.
In 2024, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a ocean An exploration group that uses a robot capable of probing depths of up to 14,760 feet (4,500 meters), has embarked on a 55-day expedition that illustrates the wild sightings found at these depths. Their remotely operated vehicle (ROV), SuBastian, spotted a colossal encounter or migration of crabs, a shimmering, psychedelic marine worm, life thriving around deep methane seeps, and perhaps 60 new species.
“Every time we land the ROV with its 4K cameras on board, we see amazing biodiversity,” Jyotika Virmani, an oceanographer and executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, told Mashable.
“It was just one thing after another,” she added.
The view below shows the impressive and untold accumulation of crabs during Schmidt’s recent expedition to Chile Margin. “Yesterday we were confronted with a crazy conflagration of crabs at a depth of 400 meters. Migration route? Mating season?” Jeffrey Marlow, Boston University biologist and chief scientist of the trip, put online.
Submersibles piloted by biologists can certainly perform a unique sciencebut ROVs have advantages when it comes to exploration. Unlike humans, they do not need oxygen and can lie down for a long time. “We can run it for two days if necessary,” Virmani said. It’s relatively easy to try new technologies aboard these robots, and the ROV can also collect and return samples to the surface.
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Below you’ll find the otherworldly scenes captured by the Schmidt Ocean Institute and other deep-sea explorers in 2024.
Images of extremely ancient deep sea creatures
A deep-sea mission undertaken by the Ocean Exploration Trust aboard its 223-foot vessel (E/V) Nautilus, spotted four nautilus individuals. Creatures similar to these modern-day nautiloids – swimming mollusks residing in large shells – have been observed Earth for some 500 million years, evolving much earlier than the dinosaurs.
But these creatures are not easy to find. Ocean Trust explorers have been venturing into the deep sea for 15 years and have completed more than 1,000 dives with their remote-controlled vehicle. But these are the first nautiloids they spot.
“It finally happened,” a member of the exploration team said at the start of the footage, shown in the video below. The nautiloids were swimming in a channel in the South Pacific Ocean off the coast of Palau.
Squid with a huge clutch of eggs
During their 55-day journey across the Chilean margin, the Schmidt Ocean Institute chanced to spot a mother black-eyed squid holding a large clutch of eggs. Gonatus squid can hatch up to 3,000 eggs at a time.
“It’s not often you see this,” Virmani said.
Crushable speed of light
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Octopuses hitting fish
Ocean exploration group OceanX has captured footage of octopuses striking fish in the Red Sea. OceanX often explores the depths of the oceanbut this scene comes from shallower depths.
“The octopuses appeared to hit the fish to enforce social order and keep the group of hunters moving,” OceanX explained in its video below. “Researchers hypothesize that octopuses hunt with fish to more easily find prey, and that fish hunt with octopuses to uproot prey hidden in crevices.”
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Discovery of the “mystery mollusc”
Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have identified a fascinating new phenomenon. deep sea species off California. It is transparent, can glow and catches its prey with a large hood. At one point during filming, researchers saw it detach one of its finger-like appendages, likely as a lure for a predator. The shiny appendage then flew away.
“When we first filmed him glowing with the ROV, everyone in the control room let out a loud ‘Oooooh!’ at the same time, we were all delighted by this view,” Steven Haddock, a senior scientist at the institute, said in a statement.
Below, you can view stunning images of the animal, which biologists have dubbed the “mystery mollusk.” It now also has a scientific name, Bathydevius caudactylusand after years of observation and genetic testing, scientists concluded that it was a species of nudibranch, better known as sea slugs.
Observation of wild deep-sea squid
A baited robotic lander attracted a magnapinna – a rarely seen large-finned squid – and allowed researchers from the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Center and Inkfish to film the enigmatic images. The squid has been observed in the Tonga Trench, located in the southwest Pacific Ocean.
“Exceptional” images of two deep-sea creatures
“While diving on an unnamed seamount west of Babeldaob, near the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, the ROV Hercules came across two magnificent deep-sea creatures,” writes the Ocean Exploration Trust.
We first see a Chaunacops, an anglerfish with a large lure. Next is a clear view of a dumbo octopus, named for its ear-shaped fins.
Shimmering creature in the distant ocean
While investigating the little-explored Chilean coast – with seeps and vents emitting nutrients into the water – the Schmidt Ocean Institute spotted a curious, almost alien species: a shimmering species of polychaete crawling on the seabed. It’s a psychedelic sea worm.
You can see the glistening hairs of this slow-moving creature, or chaetae, in the video below.
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Polychaetes are extremely diverse organisms.
“The visual variety among the more than 10,000 described species means that a polychaete enthusiast never gets bored,” said Karen Osborn, curator of marine invertebrates at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. explain. “They come in every color and pattern imaginable, from completely transparent to iridescent to candy stripes.”
Predator discovered 26,000 feet deep
The recently discovered deep-sea predator, Dulcibella camanchaca.
Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Deep-sea biologists have discovered a new animal some 7,902 meters underwater, in the ocean’s “hadal zone”, named after the Greek god of the underworld, Hades. These researchers lowered baited traps into the Atacama Trench off the coast of Chile and raised four individuals of a species now called Dulcibella camanchaca.
“Dulcibella camanchaca is a fast-swimming predator that we named after “darkness” in the languages of the people of the Andean region to refer to the deep, dark ocean from which it feeds,” Johanna Weston, hadal ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution which co-authored the discovery, said in a statement.
In the hadal zonethe deepest ocean kingdom, many creatures rely on food from the more productive waters above. But Dulcibella camanchaca is not a scavenger. The four-centimeter (1.5 inch) crustacean (an arthropod with a hard shell like a crab) captures smaller hadal crustaceans.
Exploring the seabed does much more than highlight wonder.
Scientists want to shed light – literally and figuratively – on what’s out there. The implications of the knowledge are incalculable, especially for prospectors of deep sea minerals. prepare to operate tank type industrial equipment on certain parts of the seabed. For example, research expeditions have discovered that marine life holds great potential for new medicines. “Systematic searches for new drugs have shown that marine invertebrates produce more antibiotic, anticancer and anti-inflammatory substances than any group of land organisms.” notes the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“There is a life there that has the potential to provide And provided us with medicines,” Virmani said.