While exploring "Ridge" Seamount during the 2017 Laulima O Ka Moana: Exploring Deep Monument Waters Around Johnston Atoll expedition, remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer encountered an deep-sea alien-like community composed almost exclusively of glass sponges that were uniformly oriented with the direction of the current. Given its almost fictional appearance, scientists dubbed the community the “forest of the weird.”
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Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2017 Laulima O Ka Moana.