Scientists discover giant underwater MOUNTAIN 4 times height of Burj Khalifa roamed by ‘ghost octopuses & zombie squid’
A RARE octopus and freaky squid were discovered at a huge underwater mountain taller than the world’s tallest tower.
The Nazca Ridge, off the South American coast, is a staggering 13,000ft below sea level – around four times the height of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
The discovery was made by unsuspecting scientists who were mapping the seafloor of the seamount and found the bizarre marine biodiversity.
A team of Californian researchers used an underwater robot to identify several new marine species in the seamount, around 900 miles off Chile’s coast.
These include the ghostly white Casper octopus species – named after the friendly ghoul.
In fact it is the first time the rare octopus has been sighted in the southeastern Pacific, reports CNN.
Another unusual discovery in the international waters were flying spaghetti monsters – named after their string-like appearance.
But scientists also uncovered other species new to the area – 20 in total in this expedition alone.
A frightening Promachoteuthis squid – dubbed the zombie squid also roamed the seamount, as well as a deepsea starfish, scorpion fish and more.
The oceanographers also took the first ever video of the small, weakly-muscled squid found 3,300 – 13,100ft deep into the sea.
Executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute Jyotika Virmani told ABC News her team found anemones, urchins, bubblegm coral reef, shrimp and even a squat lobster.
The mission was helped by the Falkor vessel during a 28 day expedition that was completed in August 2024.
Tallest mountains in the world
WHILE this underwater sea mountain may seem impressive for surpassing the great height of the Burj Khalifa in the UAE, it's nowhere near as tall as the following peaks...
- Everest, Nepal – part of the famous Himalayas range which spans five countries, its tallest peak stands at an impressive 29,029ft – the highest in the earth
- K2, Pakistan – another huge peak, K2 is the second highest mountain on Earth and lays in the Karakoram Range of the Himalayas
- Kangchenjunga, Nepal – this stands on the Nepal-India border and is the highest peak in India at 28,169 ft
- Lhotse, Nepal – At 27,940ft, this huge peak straddles the border of Tibet in China with Nepal
- Makalu, Nepal – another humongous mountain that’s in Nepal is 27,825 ft and just 12 miles southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and China
She said: “The Casper octopus has never been captured, so it doesn’t actually have a scientific name yet.”
Virmani cited advances in modern technology as key to deep water exploration in the new seamount.
It’s the team’s third expedition to the Nazca Ridge but first time they’ve managed to uncover the uncommon marine life.
The new seamount may even become the world’s first high seas marine protected area under a new UN treaty.
Virmani continued: “Across the three expeditions I think we’ve got some good data as a community that could be put forward to make the case that this is a really interesting region for protection.”
The first two expeditions took place in January and February of this year and catalogued a whopping 150 previous unknown species.