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A sea cucumber lurking on the seabed in the eastern Clarion-Clipperton zone (CCZ), a region spanning 4m sq km (3,100 sq miles) across the central Pacific Ocean. Though the abyssal plains were once believed to be huge, desert-like environments, research has shown they are teeming with life. For example, vital microbial communities – the first rung of the food chain – live on polymetallic nodules on the plains, which would be prime targets of deep-sea mining. The full impacts of mining nodules are unknown.
Photograph: NOAA
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Seeps are areas on the ocean floor where hydrocarbon-rich water escapes through fissures. They are home to complex ecosystems, increasing biodiversity in the deep by creating food from chemical energy for deep-sea animals. Scientists warn that dredging the seabed for minerals will destroy these rich habitats. This image shows clumps of tubeworms used by snails to anchor their yellow eggs in the sediment.
Photograph: NOAA
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A new species of flatfish that was discovered in 2006 at Daikoku seamount, in the Marianas region of the western Pacific. These congregate around hydrothermal vents on the seafloor. Deep-sea creatures help towards climate regulation too. Vents act as carbon sinks where specially adapted micro-organisms consume and store carbon dioxide that has been absorbed into the water from the atmosphere. But agitating sediments reverses this beneficial process, by releasing carbon dioxide that returns to the surface and into the atmosphere.
Photograph: Submarine Ring of Fire 2014/NSF/NOAA
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This tentacled sea creature, Relicanthus sp., comes from a new order of Cnidaria collected at 4,100 metres in the Clarion-Clipperton zone. It lives on sponge stalks attached to nodules. Scraping the seafloor for mining could upset the chemical energy supplies that fuel microbial life, altering how species higher up the chain interact with each other and potentially causing irreversible damage to them.
Photograph: NOAA
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A glass sponge in the family Euplectellidae observed during an expedition in the North Atlantic this year. Sediment plumes from deep-sea mining can smother habitats over a huge area and potentially release toxins. Deep-sea organisms have evolved in stable conditions, so it could take millions of years for them to recover – if at all.
Photograph: NOAA
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‘Dumbo octopuses’ live in the extreme depths of the ocean and have fins on their mantle that resemble the Disney elephant. They flap their fins to propel themselves in the water. When observed in 2014 during NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer’s Gulf of Mexico expedition, this specimen had a never-before-seen coiled-leg body posture.
Photograph: NOAA
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The tripod fish is one of the many species that could be harmed through deep-sea mining. They hunt by facing the current while perched above the seafloor on their fins, which they pump fluid into so they become like stilts. Noise, light and vibrations from seabed disturbance impact ecosystems adapted to complete darkness and silence.
Photograph: NOAA/PA
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A mollusc floating in the deep sea. Some sponges and molluscs are unique to certain nodules, which offer a firm surface for organisms to cling to amid the sediment on the seabed. Removing the nodules through mining could wipe out niche habitats and populations, perhaps a whole species.
Photograph: NOAA/PA
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These vibrant anemones, sponges and octocorals make up the diverse coral garden and sea-cliff community at the Atlantis bank, in the south-west Indian Ocean. Mining activity can change the shape of the sediment and liquid flows, which would endanger these coral communities.
Photograph: Alex D Rogers/GEF Seamounts Project/Natural Environment Research Council/IUCN
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A purple ‘dinner plate’ jellyfish (Solmissus sp.). Excavation of the seabed can trigger acidic reactions that create toxic conditions for marine life.
Photograph: Shirley/Gulf of Alaska 2004 Expedition/NOAA
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Hydrothermal vents in the Lau basin of the Pacific. These geysers, or hot springs, on the ocean floor spew geothermally heated water into the otherwise cold depths. Churning machinery can destroy these key habitats, which may lead to the extinction of species found nowhere else in the oceans.
Photograph: Charles Fisher/Pennsylvania State University/The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
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A massive sponge discovered at a depth of about 2,100m (7,000ft) in the Papahanaumokuakea marine national monument, a conservation area off the north-west Hawaiian Islands. The specimen, measuring roughly 3.5 metres by 2 metres (12ft x 7ft), is believed to be the world’s largest documented sponge.
Photograph: NOAA/Hohonu Moana 2015/AP
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Many deep-sea organisms like this sponge are among the longest living creatures on earth, and are believed to live for thousands of years. Their slow growth rate makes them especially vulnerable to physical disturbance. This sponge is covered with thousands of tiny anemones and also provides a home to several brittlestars (pink), crinoids or ‘sea lilies’ (yellow) and a basket star (brown).
Photograph: NOAA
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Octocoral polyps, bearing eight hollow tentacles fringed with little branches called pinnules. The octocoral use these tentacles to catch and feed on organic material that flows past them on the current. Fine sediment released by mining makes oceans cloudier, which could devastate passive suspension feederssuch as octocorals.
Photograph: Okeanos Explorer, Mid-Cayman Rise Expedition 2011/NOAA
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A transparent hydromedusa, photographed at a depth of about 3900m (12,800ft), just above the seafloor along the Mona Canyon, off Puerto Rico. In this closeup, there are two sets of tentacles: an inner ring of short tentacles and a longer set originating from the bottom of the bell. They use nematocysts, or stingers, to capture prey. The light from mining ships can impact the behaviour of medusa, which migrate twice a year between deep and shallow waters.
Photograph: Okeanos Explorer/NOAA
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Sulfide chimneys are pinnacles where scaldingly hot water, above 200?C in temperature, shoot up from the sea floor. The water is charged with minerals and volcanic gases, and the compounds that precipitate resemble black smoke.
Photograph: NOAA
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A yellow stalked sponge. Ships supporting deep-sea mining are also likely to release toxic vapours into the ocean, potentially impacting ecosystems thousands of metres below the surface.
Photograph: Hohonu Moana 2015/NOAA
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This undulating jellyfish was seen during dives in the Marianas Trench marine national monument in 2016, while exploring the informally named Enigma Seamount at a depth of 3,700m. Scientists believe the tentacles are used to ambush prey.
Photograph: 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas/NOAA
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This previously unknown fish was discovered in a surprising location, as these pricklefish – from the Stephanoberycidae family – are usually found at shallower depths. Scientists have called for a moratorium on mining until more is known about species in the deepest parts of the oceans.
Photograph: NOAA
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A type of vent often called a ‘black smoker’. Where the super-hot vented fluid meets the very cold ambient seawater (2?C) of the deep sea, minerals precipitate out of solution, forming spectacular chimneys. Researchers measured the temperature of the vent fluid at 339?C.
Photograph: 2016 Deepwater Exploration of the Marianas./NOAA
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This egg nest, belonging to a catshark, shows yellow egg cases, often called a ‘mermaid’s purse’. It was found by NOAA researchers off the coast of Sonoma county in California.
Photograph: AP/NOAA
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An ‘Unidentified Swimming Organism’ seen by scientists from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who were stumped as to what this USO could be. The oceans are rich in biodiversity. About 230,000 species of marine life have been catalogued, but scientists estimate this is only a small fraction of the total. Without proper protection of the deep sea, mining could destroy species yet to be discovered.
Photograph: NOAA
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This rare dumbo octopus (Cirrothauma murrayi) is often called the Blind Octopod due to the lack of a lens and retina in its eyes. It can sense light but cannot form images. The nearly sightless eyes are embedded deep in their heads. Smothering, where particles are suspended in the water column, can affect how ecosystems function, though the impacts on deep-sea environments are not well understood.
Photograph: Okeanos Explorer/NOAA
