10 weird creatures found in the deep sea .
Sponge tracks on the seafloor
An example of a trail left by sponges as they crawl across the seafloor.
An example of the strange trails left by sponges as they crawl across the seafloor in the Arctic. (Image credit: AWI OFOBS team, PS101)
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In April, a new study revealed the first evidence of deep-sea sponges crawling around on the seafloor, after researchers snapped photos of bizarre brown tracks left behind by the surprisingly mobile creatures in the Arctic.
The sponge trails were first photographed in 2016 by towed cameras behind a research vessel at Langseth Ridge — a poorly studied region of the Arctic Ocean that's permanently covered in sea ice — at a depth of between 2,300 and 3,300 feet (700 to 1,000 meters).
"The trails are made up of the spicules, or spines, which the sponge can grow," study co-author Autun Purser, a deep-sea ecologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute at the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, told Live Science. "The sponge seems to expand along these spines, then contract to the new, moved position. During this process, some spines break off, forming the trails."
An example of a trail left by sponges as they crawl across the seafloor.
An example of the strange trails left by sponges as they crawl across the seafloor in the Arctic. (Image credit: AWI OFOBS team, PS101)
(opens in new tab)
In April, a new study revealed the first evidence of deep-sea sponges crawling around on the seafloor, after researchers snapped photos of bizarre brown tracks left behind by the surprisingly mobile creatures in the Arctic.
The sponge trails were first photographed in 2016 by towed cameras behind a research vessel at Langseth Ridge — a poorly studied region of the Arctic Ocean that's permanently covered in sea ice — at a depth of between 2,300 and 3,300 feet (700 to 1,000 meters).
"The trails are made up of the spicules, or spines, which the sponge can grow," study co-author Autun Purser, a deep-sea ecologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute at the Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, told Live Science. "The sponge seems to expand along these spines, then contract to the new, moved position. During this process, some spines break off, forming the trails."
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24 December 2022
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