The Mariana Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean and are part of a huge submerged mountain range. They have volcanic origin and the deep waters that surround them still keep an extraordinary diversity that is yet to be discovered.
In the last campaign carried out by the US scientific agency NOOA, the knowledge of this fascinating area of the ocean has been deepened, and new species have been discovered such as an abyssal fish of the genus Pachycara , filmed during the exploration of a seamount in the process of subduction under the Philippine plate.
During the expedition, fascinating places have been discovered such as a 30-meter-high hydrothermal source that, as a result of volcanic activity, expels a high-temperature fluid full of metallic particles. As seen in the images, the source is a refuge for various species of lobsters, crabs, limpets, mussels and snails .
Researchers have recorded and studied other species that seem from another world, a spectacle that takes us into the depths of the marine world .
Videos courtesy of the Office of Oceans Exploration and Research, NOAA, USA
