Predatory sponges and giant sea cucumbers were just a few of the discoveries made by University of Hawaii researchers on a recent deep sea survey. The purpose of the mission was to characterize the remarkable organisms of this region to understand how these econosystem might change following deep-sea mining.
More than a dozen countries are eyeing the ocean floor for the polymetallic rocks and for use in the computer industry. Deep-sea mining has not yet begun, but expeditions like this are necessary to manage the effects of mining in the deep sea.
