Thousands of meters below the surface, a scientific expedition has discovered never-before-seen underwater canyons and more than 100 possible new species. A reminder that the planet's greatest secrets still await in the darkness of our oceans.
There are places on Earth so remote and hostile that they remain more unknown than the surface of the Moon. One of them is the oceanic abyss, a world of crushing pressures, perpetual darkness, and freezing temperatures. It is precisely there, off the coast of Chile, where a recent scientific expedition has lifted the veil on an ecosystem that has thrived in secret for millennia.
Aboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor (too) , a team of scientists embarked on a mission to map the seafloor of the Nazca Ridge, a vast underwater mountain range that stretches more than 2,900 kilometers. What they found exceeded all their expectations: a lost world teeming with life, largely unknown to science.
A Descent into the Unknown
The star of these discoveries was the ROV SuBastian , an unmanned underwater robotic vehicle capable of diving to depths of 4,500 meters. Equipped with high-definition cameras and precision robotic arms, SuBastian became the eyes and hands of scientists on the surface, transmitting live images of a world no human had ever seen.
As the robot descended the slopes of seamounts—giant mountains that rise from the seafloor without ever breaking the surface—the images revealed landscapes of extraordinary beauty. Deep-sea coral gardens, with shapes that defy the imagination, stretched out like alien forests. Among them, vibrant wildlife bustled with activity.
The Catalogue of a New Life
The expedition's results are astonishing: scientists have identified more than 100 species that could be completely new to science . Among the most spectacular discoveries are:
- Spiral whip corals: Delicate structures that grow in helical patterns, adapted to capture nutrients in deep currents.
- Sea urchins with strangely shaped spines: Creatures that look like they're straight out of a science fiction movie, with unique defenses developed in an environment of unknown predators.
- Vibrantly colored starfish and brittle stars: Organisms that, despite living in total darkness, exhibit pigmentation whose purpose is still a mystery.
- "Chicluda" lobsters: A species of blind crustacean that earned its nickname for its peculiar appearance and is completely different from its shallow-water relatives.
- Anemones and glass sponges: Living beings that build their bodies from silica, creating structures of overwhelming fragility and beauty.
Each of these creatures is a piece of an evolutionary puzzle. Living in the isolation of these seamounts, they have followed unique evolutionary paths over millions of years, becoming specialists in an extreme ecosystem. Studying their genetics and biology will not only expand our catalog of life but could also reveal new adaptations and biochemical compounds with potential for medicine or industry.
Protecting What We Don't Yet Understand
This discovery is not only a victory for science, but also an urgent wake-up call. The expedition has demonstrated that these seamounts are "islands of biodiversity," oases of life in the vastness of the deep ocean. However, they are extremely fragile ecosystems.
Threats such as deep-sea trawling , which ravages the seafloor with heavy nets, or the emerging underwater mining industry , which seeks to extract minerals from these geological formations, could destroy these unique habitats before we've even had a chance to study them. As Dr. Javier Sellanes, one of the expedition's scientific leaders, noted, "We're protecting places we didn't even know existed."
The discovery coincides with a key moment for marine conservation. As nations like Spain move forward with the creation of their first entirely marine National Park (the Sea of Calm, in El Hierro) and the world negotiates a global treaty to curb plastic pollution , the revelation of these "lost worlds" underscores our responsibility to act.
The expedition to the Nazca Ridge reminds us of a fundamental truth: the age of exploration on our own planet is far from over. In the deep darkness of the oceans await not only new species, but also new questions and, perhaps, some of the answers to the origin and incredible resilience of life on Earth.
Sep 14, 2025
