Discovered in the deep: the ‘forest of the weird’

More than a mile beneath the Pacific Ocean, is a seascape of oddly shaped corals and a glass sponge named after ET

In 2017, on a submerged volcano a mile and a half underwater in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a team of scientists were left gasping in wonder at a scene they called the forest of the weird".

Instead of trees, the forest was made up of oddly shaped corals, including some that resembled frizzy bottlebrushes (Rhodaniridogorgia) and others that were flattened and harp-shaped (Narella) with leggy, pink brittlestars, relatives of starfish, wrapped around their branches.