There is a saying which claims that we know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the depths of our oceans.
A team of scientists backed by the U.S. government has mounted a unique crowd-sourced exploration of the largely unknown deep sea off the coast of Puerto Rico.
Exploring at the depths of 20,000 feet (one of the deepest dives ever made in that region) they discovered 100 species of fish, 50 species of deepwater corals and hundreds of other invertebrates, many of which had never been seen in their natural habitat.
They’re still analyzing the data they collected, but have already identified two new species: a jellyfish-like animal called a ‘ctenophore’ and a new type of fish.
A ctenophore basically looks like an underwater alien. Here are some incredible images:
The scientists sent their remotely operated vehicle (ROV) on some of the deepest dives ever conducted in the region. The video they captured was streamed live. Researchers around the world were able to view it in real time and contribute to the expedition by either calling the ship or logging into an internet chatroom.
Here is a part of that breathtaking video:
Source: Quartz;
