The deep sea is glowing.
The dark water has giant phantasmagorical creatures in it.
When marine researchers lower their robots into these depths, they're almost always looking for something new.
George Matsumoto, a deep sea scientist who works at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, said there's so much left to explore in the ocean. 98% of living space on Earth is provided by the ocean. We don't know who else lives there.
Ocean expeditions in 2021 added to a growing catalog of wild deep sea discoveries. As the prospects for mining rare metals in the deeps with tractor-like industrial equipment loom larger, biologists emphasize that humanity must better understand and protect this unique life.
What are the things in the ocean that keep us away?
It's important to remember that what we see in the deep sea is limited. Scientists often use big, bulky exploration machines to capture footage of creatures that are too slow to get away, are too big to care, or are too small to be seen on camera.
"What are the things in the ocean that keep us away?" asked Matsumoto.
There is a rare footage of the giant phantom jelly.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute captured rare footage of a giant phantom Jelly in the deep waters of California's Monterey Bay.
The video was taken by a deep sea robot and shows the jelly's arms in the water. Monterey Bay researchers have only spotted this species nine times, but they first documented it in 1899.
Scientists still don't know a lot about this animal.
These creatures are found at depths of between 3,300 and 13,100 feet beneath the surface.
Scientists reach one of the most difficult places in the deep seas.
The RV is traveling through the ice in the ocean. Credit: Rev Ocean
The deep sea is more accessible. A deep sea covered in ice.
A group of over two dozen scientists and engineers used an underwater robot to explore a mysterious ocean world some 13,000 feet beneath the surface of the ice-coveredArctic Ocean. It was the first time that researchers have looked at rare volcanic vents.
Eva Ramirez-Llodra, a deep sea ecologist for the Norwegian government who co-led the mission, told Mashable in October that it opens a new frontier of exploration. It can be done.
You can read more about the expedition here.
The researchers found a mammoth tusk 10,000 feet under the sea.
The ancient mammoth tusk was spotted by a deep sea robot. The credit is given to Darrin Schultz.
Scientists discovered a three-foot-long tusk from an extinct mammoth some 10,000 feet beneath the ocean. The specimen was collected off the California coast.
Steven Haddock, a marine scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, said in a statement that he was stunned that they found the ancient tusk of a mammoth.
How did a tusk get to the deep sea? It's not known, and likely will remain that way. Sometimes land-dwelling creatures are washed out into deeper ocean regions.
Unusual and hot deep sea world found.
A vent with spires. The Ocean Institute has a credit.
During a deep sea expedition in Mexico's Gulf of California in the fall of 2021, scientists observed amazing volcanic activity. The trip, aboard the research vessel Falkor, used a sturdy underwater robot to find intriguing life and potentially new-to-science creatures at these dark depths.
The hot vents in this region are unique. The first deep sea vents were discovered in 1977. They're called "black smokers" because of that. The water in this Mexican realm is vastly different. It's clear because of the different minerals that come from inside Earth.
Sometimes the hot fluid comes out and flows upward like a reverse waterfall, which eventually builds majestic spires and mounds above the vents, as shown in the images in the story show.
Unexpected life was found in a dark world.
There are creatures under an ice shelf. Credit: British survey
In 2016 scientists drilled through half a mile of coastal ice. They lowered a camera and looked at a world hundreds of miles from normal sources of food.
They found something.
The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf is part of an enormous ice sheet that floats over the ocean. The researchers reported in February in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science that they had never seen life isolated so far under an ice shelf.
The lead author of the research told Mashable that the ice makes it like an enormous cave. You can learn more about the expedition here.
Stunning images of deep-sea life captured by an aquatic robot.
A sea snake is swimming. The Ocean Institute has a credit.
Scientists aboard the research vessel dropped an underwater robot into the Ashmore Reef Marine Park off of Australia. It was able to see a variety of ocean creatures at some 500 feet down. The trip was called the "Australian Coral Mesophotic expedition" by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Dark zones with low light are called mesophotic.
Karen Miller of the Australian Institute of Marine Science wrote in a post that she had studied corals from the Great Barrier Reef to Antarctica. The Australian Mesophotic Coral expedition made me realize how much more there is to know about our oceans.
500 specimen were collected and 500 never-before-seen footage of the Ashmore Reef was captured by the expedition.
There are more images in this story.
A whalefish is seen.
In California's Monterey Bay, marine scientists filmed a rare whalefish at some 6,600 feet beneath the surface.
They don't have eyes, so they have to use other senses to see.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute wrote thatWhalefishes have rarely been seen alive in the deep.
Scientists discovered a huge underwater waste dump off Los Angeles.
The waste barrel was dumped off the coast of Los Angeles. David Valentine is from UC Santa Barbara.
Some deep sea discoveries are terrible.
The dumpsite off the Los Angeles coast was mostly hidden from the public for over half a century. Some of the submerged waste may be toxic, as marine scientists revealed in 2021.
They found around 27,000 barrels, some deep in the ocean.
"It was staggering to us," said Eric Terrill, chief scientist of the expedition and an oceanographer at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Read about the discovery and what comes next.
The sharks are big and glowing.
There are three deep sea shark species near New Zealand.
The kite fin shark is six feet long.
The occurrence of glowing organisms in the deep sea has often been seen as a spectacular event at sea, but it is now more and more obvious that the production of light at depth is an important role in structuring the largest marine system on the planet.
You can see the images in the online research.
Even among scientists who know it best, the deep sea will continue to stir amazement.
In the coming decades, and beyond, you can expect more discoveries, including valuable medicines found in the deep sea. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, searches for new drugs have shown that marine organisms produce more antibiotics, anti-cancer, and anti-Inflammatory substances than any other group of organisms.
You can still hear sounds from 3,000 feet below the ocean in your room. A deep sea microphone in Monterey Bay records all sorts of creatures.
"That's pretty amazing," said the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's Matsumoto.
