They seem to come from another planet species discovered in one of the deepest, darkest and most hostile areas of the Pacific Ocean on Earththe area of Clarion-Clipperton: from sea cucumbers completely transparent to delicate glass sponges cup-shaped they live up to 15 thousand yearsplump sea pigs a beautiful bright pink. The result is due to Smartex project of the National Oceanography center of Great Britain, which aims to explore the ecosystems present in the depths of the Pacific Oceanstill in largely unknownit’s at protect them from the risks arising from mining activities: precisely in this area of the Pacific Ocean, in fact, the presence of enormous mineral deposits has been detected, in particular manganese.
The sea cucumber with transparent skin, which allows you to see the internal organs (source: SMARTEX/NHM/NOC)
“These areas it’s least explored on Earth”, says Thomas Dahlgren of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who participated in the mission: “It is estimated that only one in ten animal species living down here has been described from science.” At these depths, the weight of the overlying water creates a very strong pressurethe Sunlight cannot penetrate and the temperatures are only a few degrees above zero. Furthermore, for food you have to rely mostly on organic matter raining down from the upper ocean layersa phenomenon known as ‘marine snow‘.
A cup-shaped glass sponge (source: SMARTEX Project, NERC/smartexccz.org)
Given the prohibitive conditions for humans, the Smartex project made use of a remote controlled vehicle which was sent to explore depths between 3,500 and 5,500 meters. One of the most spectacular discoveries made during the expedition is a sea cucumberan animal that owes its name to its vegetable-like body structure, completely transparent, which shows his entire internal digestive tract in plain sight. “These sea cucumbers are among the largest animals found on this expedition. They work like seabed vacuum cleaners oceanic – says Dahlgren – and they are specialize in finding sediment that have passed through as few stomachs as possible.”
The pink sea pig, dedicated to Barbie (source: SMARTEX/NHM/NOC)
Other creatures spotted include crustaceans similar to long worms, starfish, corals, sea anemones and delicate cup-shaped glass sponges. The latter, in particular, can boast the longest known animal lifespan, even up to 15 thousand years. A new species of sea pig has also been discovered, nicknamed ‘Barbie pig‘ for his particular shade of pink. Sea pigs are a type of sea cucumber with a soft, plump appearance, often pink in color and with characteristics stumpy legs. “The scarcity of food causes individuals to live far apart from each other – concludes the Swedish researcher – but the species richness in the area is surprisingly high. We see many interesting specialized adaptations among the animals that inhabit this area.”
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