Oceanographers find underwater mountain filled with new & rare species

A rare squid, a ghostly octopus, and a spaghetti monster—those are just some of the discoveries made by a team of oceanographers while on a 28-day expedition off the coast of Chile.

The team, led by Schmidt Ocean Institute, was mapping a new seamount on the Nazca Ridge at the time, which is an underwater mountain chain in a high-seas marine protected area.

According to Schmidt Oceans Institute, the new seamount is about 10,032 feet – that’s a little smaller than Mount Rainier, which clocks in at about 14,000 feet.

Using an underwater robot, the team discovered sponge gardens and ancient corals on the mountain’s ridges.

That’s not the only thing they found.

Schmidt Ocean Institute says it captured the first camera footage of a live Promachoteuthis squid.

It’s “a genus that is so rare that only three species have been described based on only a few collected specimens, several of which are from the late 1800s,” the oceanographers said in a news release.

They also documented a Casper octopus, the first time this species has been seen in the Southern Pacific.

Two rare Bathyphysa siphonophores, commonly known as flying spaghetti monsters, were also seen during the expedition.

“Our findings highlight the remarkable diversity of these ecosystems, while simultaneously revealing the gaps in our understanding of how the seamount ecosystems are interconnected,” said Co-Chief Scientist and Schmidt Ocean Institute Marine Technician, Tomer Ketter.

“We hope the data gathered from these expeditions will help inform future policies, safeguarding these pristine environments for future generations.”

Oceanographers say they collected around 20 suspected new species during this expedition.

This marks the third exploration this year of the Nazca Ridge.

Two previous expeditions in January and February documented over 150 previously unknown species.

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