A huge portion of our oceans still remains a mystery. So, seeing footage from the deep sea is always a wonderful treat. The Schmidt Ocean Institute explored the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, filming the diverse deep-sea creatures around the coral reefs. One of the most remarkable discoveries is a transparent glass octopus that looks like a creature from another planet.
The team of scientists puts their footage together in a four-minute video, so you can also discover this hidden and beautiful underwater world.
The expedition ship Falkor first voyaged to PIPA in 2017, with the goal to explore and document never before seen deep-sea ecosystems of the area. To explore the great depths of the ocean (and bring us that remarkable video above), the scientists used the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) SuBastian.
Some of the creatures filmed look completely weird, some are psychedelic and colorful, and yet the others look almost like common spiders you’ll find in your garden. But I find all of them beautiful! As I mentioned, the expedition managed to film glass octopus, “one of the least studied cephalopods.” The Schmidt Ocean Institute published the footage of this creature alone, along with some facts about it.
“The ocean holds wonders and promises we haven’t even imagined, much less discovered,” said Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. “Expeditions like these teach us why we need to increase our efforts to restore and better understand marine ecosystems everywhere — because the great chain of life that begins in the ocean is critical for human health and well being.”
While we’re exploring other planets, a great portion of our own remains unexplored. According to Oceana, more than 80% of the ocean is still a mystery. NASA even built a camera that would explore the Earth’s underwater world from afar. Since there is so much we still don’t know about our oceans, expeditions like this are of utmost importance for scientists to learn and understand more about underwater ecosystems. And for us regular folks, it’s a source of new information and lots of stunning imagery and videos.
[via Laughing Squid]
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