Nature & Environment

Undersea mountain is teeming with life

By T.K. Randall
August 6, 2014

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Marine scientists from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh set out to explore the undersea mountain, which at a height of 1,400km stands taller off the sea floor than Scotland's highest mountain Ben Nevis does on land, using an array of sophisticated instrumentation and a remotely operated submersible vehicle.

During their expedition the team discovered that the vast undersea region was teeming with all manner of creatures ranging from deep-sea fish and octopuses to coral and single-celled life forms."When the vehicle dives down it goes a kilometre through the open water and then this strange place opens in front of you," said Marine biologist Prof J Murray Roberts.

"There were at least 109 different taxa down there, all the way from really strange single-celled organisms to clusters of deep sea corals. I was surprised to see the diversity that we saw."

Source: Herald Scotland

Tags: Scotland, Ocean, Seamount