
We are approaching the age of discovery.
Earth is an oceanic planet, and more than 70% of its surface is covered by seas. Using deep-sea robots, scientists regularly uncover new insights into the most mysterious worlds in these vast waters. Many exotic ecosystems inhabit previously unknown valleys or cling to submerged mountains.
In 2024, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, an ocean exploration group using a robot capable of exploring depths of up to 14,760 feet (4,500 metres), embarks on a 55-day expedition representing the wild scenes found at these depths. Their remotely operated vehicle (ROV), SuBastian, observed a massive meeting or migration of crabs, a wriggling, psychedelic marine worm, life thriving around deep methane seeps, and perhaps 60 new species.
“Every time we land the ROV with its 4K cameras, we see some amazing biodiversity,” Jyotika Virmani, oceanographer and executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, told Mashable.
“It was just one thing after another,” she added.
Scientists are witnessing a stunning and unprecedented carnage in the ocean
The view below shows the impressive and countless assemblages of crabs during Schmidt’s recent trip to the Chilean margin. “Yesterday, we came across a huge fire of crabs at a depth of 400 metres. Migration route? Mating season?” Jeffrey Marlowe, a biologist from Boston University and the chief scientist involved in the expedition, Published online.
Sure, submarines operated by biologists can perform unique science, but autonomous vehicles have exploratory benefits. Unlike humans, they do not need oxygen, and can stay down for a long time. “We can run it for two days if we need to,” Virmani said. It’s relatively easy to try out new technologies aboard these robots, and the ROV can also collect samples and return them to the surface.
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Below you’ll find other-worldly scenes captured by the Schmidt Ocean Institute and other deep-sea explorers in 2024.
Footage of extremely ancient deep sea creatures
A deep-sea mission, undertaken by the Ocean Exploration Trust aboard its 223-foot (E/V) vessel. nautilus, Spotted four nautilus individuals. Creatures similar to modern nautiloids — swimming molluscs that live in large shells — have been on Earth for about 500 million years, evolving much earlier than dinosaurs.
But the creatures are not easy to find. Ocean Trust explorers have sought the deep sea for 15 years and have made more than 1,000 dives with their remotely operated vehicle. But these are the first nautiloids they have spotted.
“It’s finally happened,” a member of the exploration team said at the beginning of the footage shown in the video below. The submarines were swimming in a channel in the South Pacific Ocean off Palau.
Squid with a huge brood of eggs
During their 55-day journey across the Chilean margin, the Schmidt Ocean Institute accidentally discovered a mother black-eyed squid clutching a large brood of eggs. Junatus Squid can incubate up to 3,000 eggs at a time.
“It’s not often that you see that,” Virmani said.
Speed of light mashable
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Octopuses punching fish
The ocean exploration group OceanX captured footage of octopuses striking fish in the Red Sea. OceanX often explores the depths of the ocean, but this view is from shallower depths.
“Octopuses appear to punch fish to enforce social order and keep the hunting party moving,” OceanX explained in the video below. “Researchers believe that octopuses hunt with fish to find prey more easily, and that fish hunt with octopuses to root out prey hiding in crevices.”
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Discovery of the “mysterious mollusk”
Scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have identified an interesting new species in the deep sea off California. They are transparent, can glow, and capture prey with a large covering. At some point during filming, researchers saw it detach one of its finger-like appendages, likely as a trap for a predator. Then the glowing appendage floated away.
“When we first photographed it glowing with the ROV, everyone in the control room let out a loud ‘oooh!’ At the same time, we were all fascinated by the sight,” Stephen Haddock, a senior scientist at the institute, said in a statement.
Below, you can see amazing footage of the animal, which biologists have dubbed a “mystery mollusk.” It now also has a scientific name, Bathidpheus codactylusAfter years of observation and genetic testing, scientists concluded that it was a type of nudibranch, more commonly known as a marine slug.
See wild deep sea squid
A robotic lander equipped with a bait lured the magnabena – a rarely seen large-finned squid – and allowed researchers from the Minderoo-UWA Deep Sea Research Center and Inkfish to film this enigmatic footage. The presence of squid has been observed in the Tonga Trench, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.
‘Extraordinary’ footage of two deep sea creatures
“While diving an unnamed seamount west of Babeldaub near the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, the ROV Hercules encountered two magnificent deep-sea creatures,” the Ocean Exploration Trust wrote.
First sighted was a chunakops, a large bait anglerfish. Next is a clear view of a dumbo octopus, named for its ear-like fins.
A shimmering creature in the distant ocean
While investigating the little-explored Chilean coast — with seeps and vents that release nutrients into the water — the Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered a strange, almost alien-looking species: a shimmering species of polychaete crawling on the sea floor. It is a narcotic marine worm
You can see the shimmering whiskers of this slow-moving creature, or cheetah, in the video below.
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Polychaetes are very diverse organisms.
“The visual diversity among the more than 10,000 described species means lovers of polychaete invertebrates will never get bored,” says Karen Osborne, curator of marine invertebrates at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. He explains. “They come in every color and pattern imaginable, from completely transparent to iridescent to striped.”
Predator discovered at a depth of 26,000 feet

A newly discovered deep-sea predator, Dulcibella camanchaca.
Credit: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Deep-sea biologists have discovered a new animal 26,000 feet (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 Chile, and brought back four individuals of a species now called Dulcibella camanchaca.
“Dulcibella camanchaca “It is a fast-swimming predator that we called ‘dark’ in the languages of the peoples of the Andean region to denote the deep, dark ocean in which it existed before,” Joanna Weston, a hadal ecologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who co-authored the discovery, said in a statement.
In the Hadal Zone, the deepest ocean world, many creatures depend on food that descends from the more productive waters above. but Dulcibella camanchaca Not a scavenger. The four-centimetre-long (1.5 in) crustaceans (hard-shelled arthropods such as crabs) capture smaller crustaceans.
Deep sea exploration does much more than just illuminate wonders.
Scientists want to shed light — literally and figuratively — on what’s out there. The implications of the knowledge are incalculable, especially for deep-sea mineral prospectors Willingness to operate tank-like industrial equipment Across parts of the sea floor. For example, research expeditions have found that ocean life holds great potential for producing new medicines. “A systematic search for new drugs has shown that marine invertebrates produce more antibiotics, anticancers and anti-inflammatory substances than any group of terrestrial organisms.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notes.
“There is life down there that contains The ability to save and It was submitted “We have the medicines,” Virmani said.