A team of oceanographers discovered a massive undersea mountain off the coast of Chile that is taller than Greece’s iconic Mount Olympus and home to scores of rare sea creatures.
Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute of California filmed the never-before-seen seamount, which stretches 1.9 miles towards the surface from the Pacific Ocean floor and features a thriving ecosystem, according to the organization.
Located about 900 miles from South America, the unnamed peak was found by the team on their 28-day expedition on the R/V Falkor vessel, which mapped part of the sea floor with its sonar system beneath the hull.
“Sound waves go down and they bounce back off the surface, and we measure the time it takes to come back and get measured. From that we get a really good idea (of the seabed topography),” Jyotika Virmani, the institute’s executive director, told CNN.
Virmani noted that to date, only about a quarter of the ocean floor has been mapped, despite covering 71% of Earth’s surface.
The newly mapped underwater mountain is taller from base to peak than Mount Olympus, which is 9,570 feet high. However it is smaller than Japan’s Mount Fuji, which peaks at 12,388 feet.
It nearly quadruples the tallest building in the world, Dubai’s Burg Khalifa, which stands at 2,723 feet.
Scientists believe there are at least 100,000 seamounts topping 1,000 meters — or 3,280 feet — all over the globe that offer unique and vital habitats for certain sea species.
This latest mountain discovered off Chile was flush with sponge gardens and ancient corals.
Using an underwater robot the oceanographers filmed a rare Promachoteuthis squid living among the mountain — the first time the creature was ever seen alive.
They also came across the ghostly white “Casper Octopus,” marking the first time the eight legged critter has been seen in the southern Pacific. It’s never been captured, and so is still without an official scientific name, Virmani explained.
Two incredibly rare Bathyphysa siphonophores — also known as flying spaghetti monsters for their string-like appearance — were also spotted.
The latest discoveries came during the R/V Falkor’s third trip to the Nazca Ridge, which could soon become the world’s first protected marine area in deep, international waters per a new United Nations treaty adopted in 2023, according to CNN.
“Across the three expeditions, we managed to map and explore 25 seamounts, which is quite a number to explore,” she said. “I think we’ve got some good data as a community that could be put forward to make the case that this is a really interesting region for protection.”
On the three excursions in January and February and the most recent one, the team uncovered more than 170 previously unknown species of flora and fauna, researchers told CNN.
Prior to Schmidt Ocean Institute’s expeditions this year, 1,019 species were known to live in this portion of the Pacific Ocean. The number now exceeds 1,300.
The new species will be detailed in the Ocean Census, a bold international effort to record previously undiscovered species in the oceans with the goal of identifying 100,000 unknown species within the next decade.
