Flying spaghetti monsters and ghostly Casper octopus discovered living on underwater mountain

**This image is for use with this specific article only** A rarely seen Bathyphysa conifera, commonly known as a flying spaghetti monster, was documented while the research team was surveying an unnamed and unexplored seamount along the Nazca Ridge off the coast of Chile. ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute via CNN Newsource
Researchers discovered a rare deep-dwelling octopus known as 'flying spaghetti monsters' living on newly discovered mountain Credit: SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute via CNN Newsource

Flying spaghetti monsters and white 'Casper' octopus are among the abundant sea life oceanographers have discovered in an undersea mountain that is more than three thousand metres tall.

Researchers from the Schmidt Ocean Institute in California spent a month mapping the mountain which stretches almost two miles towards the surface from the ocean floor.

Scientists believe there are at least 100,000 summits and mountain ranges rising above the deep-sea floor which are taller than 1,000 metres all around the world. The ranges, located 900 miles off the coast of Chile, provide crucial habitats for a range of species, scientists say.

Researchers mapped the underwater mountain using a sonar system and discovered it is 3,109 metres tall and part of an undater mountain range Credit: SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute via CNN Newsource

The recently discovered mountain is rich in sponge gardens, ancient corals, and rare sea creatures, some of which have been filmed for the first time.

Using an underwater robot, oceanographers filmed a rare ghostly white Casper octopus, which has never been seen before in the southern Pacific. They also discovered two rare Bathyphysa siphonophores, otherwise known as flying spaghetti monsters due to their string like appearance. Jyotika Virmani, the institute’s executive director, explained that the Casper octopus "has never been captured, so it doesn't actually have a scientific name yet."

The team also recorded the first footage of a live Promachoteuthis squid, known only from a few collected specimens.

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It comes as part of the team's third expedition on the research vessel known as the R/V Falkor, this year to the Nazca Ridge, with the recent discoveries meaning the region could be a contender for the world’s first high seas marine protected area, in international waters, under a new UN treaty adopted in 2023 that is being ratified by states, Virmani said.

“Across the three expeditions, we managed to map and explore 25 seamounts, which is quite a number to explore." She went on to say, "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 last two expeditions in January and February cataloged 150 undiscovered species, with an additional 20 potential new species of flora and fauna collected during the most recent expedition.

The new species will be catalogued in the Ocean Census, an ambitious international collaboration to record previously undiscovered species in the world's oceans with the target of identifying 100,000 unknown species in the next decade.

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