A team of deep-sea researchers in Hawaii made a huge discovery. Minivan-sized huge. The big find isn’t a spectacular fish or sunken vessel.
It’s the world's largest sponge. No, not the bathtub kind—the squishy sea creature kind.
The newly found organism is about the size of a Dodge Caravan. It lives 7,000 feet deep off the shores of Hawaii.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Hawaii studied the sponge for a year before releasing their findings.
“The largest portion of our planet lies in deep waters, the vast majority of which has never been explored,” says researcher Daniel Wagner.
The rare sponge stunned scientists. They viewed it through remote cameras on their underwater rover. It is bluish-white and looks like a giant brain.
Researchers found the sponge-animal in the waters of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Papahanaumokuakea is one of the largest protected conservation areas in the world. It covers an area bigger than all other U.S. national parks combined. Many parts of these Hawaiian waters have never been explored.
Biologists used laser points to measure parts of the mammoth sponge. They carefully measured their own research vehicle. Then they compared those dimensions to images of the sponge and vehicle together. That helped determine the size of the sponge.
So far no one has identified the sponge’s genus. Most scientists believe it’s a new species.
“Here’s this animal that has presumably never been encountered before, and it’s enormous; and that kind of brings up a little intrigue for deep water and what else exists down there,” says Christopher Kelley, a biologist at the Hawaii Undersea Research Lab.
This gigantic sponge is only a little larger than sponges found before. But researchers say the discovery shows the value in exploring the ocean’s depths for unknown forms of life.
Sponges are similar to coral reefs: The odd animals provide critical habitat for other sea life. They also filter large amounts of sea water and remove material that other ocean critters don’t eat.
According to scientists, some large sponges may be more than 2,300 years old. That makes researchers wonder just how long deep-sea organisms can live.
Genesis reveals that God created every being—from birds and small bugs to humans and giant sponges. “The waters swarm with swarms of living creatures.” (Genesis 1:20) Just imagine how many we don’t even know about yet!
