In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on a submerged volcano, a team of scientists were left gasping in wonder at a scene they called the "forest of the weird".
The forest was made up of oddly shaped corals, some of which looked like bottlebrushes and others of which looked like starfish.
There were glass sponges. The other looked like a frilly white petticoat caught in a breeze. There was a glass sponge on tall stalks that looked like a melon with two holes in it. The species was named after the character in Spielberg's film. The scientific name was Advhena magnifica.
The ocean is a wild place. Sometimes it seems to border on the absurd, from fish that look up through transparent heads to golden snails with iron armour. We know a lot more about deep space than we do about the deep ocean. As mining companies push to industrialise the sea floor and global leaders squabble over how to protect the high seas, a new Guardian Seascape series will profile some of the most recently discovered weird, wonderful, majestic, ridiculous, hardcore and mind blowing creatures. They show how little is known about the environment on Earth.Q&AShow
Sponges look like plants, but they are not. They don't have a face, brain, heart, muscles or any other body part. They spend their lives stuck to the sea, straining tiny particles of food through their bodies. The last time the sponge was seen was a year ago, thousands of miles to the west. The specimen was taken to the National Museum of Natural History, where the researcher immediately realized she was looking at something different. She said it was a unique shape.
Advhena magnifica builds its body from small structures. Examining the structures under a microscope, Branco saw they were shaped like flowers. Some of the spicules were very different. This was a whole new group of deep-sea sponges that had never been seen before.
The mechanical arm of a deep-diving robot was used to collect the sponge. Researchers used to study the damaged sponges caught in the nets. She thinks the remote technologies are a game-changer. She can study the animals in their habitats and learn more about them.
The forest of the weird has video footage of all the sponges. According to Castello Branco, they could be orienting themselves to feed on floating particles brought in on the current sweeping over the seamount.
Sponges in shallow seas draw in water through tiny holes in their bodies. Water is exhaled through larger openings. It is possible that the sponges are doing something different. Inhaling water through the large surface area of their gaping "eyes" could be an important survival tactic for living in the deep ocean.
There is a chance that the sponges will show up on other seamounts, according to Branco. She says it's just a matter of time. We used to think that these environments were rare, but they are.
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