Beds of Bathymodiolus mussels provide important habitat for other deep-sea critters, including sea stars, scaleworms and limpets. NOAA Ocean Exploration. The deep sea is the large ...

Dive beneath the surface with 2025’s best ocean photography, and get a glimpse into the hidden lives of sharks, whales and sea dragons. Since 1995, the annual Nature’s Best Photography Awards strive ...

Scientific studies show substantial reductions in deep-sea biodiversity following mining tests, with impacts potentially lasting decades. Governments are split between environmental caution and the ...

Japanese scientists confirm a new marine coral species, Corallizoanthus aureus, that glows in the dark and inhabits deep caves in the ocean.

As demand for critical minerals surges around the world, countries are debating whether to mine the untapped deep-sea reserves of cobalt, copper and manganese, miles below the surface. But a growing ...

Scientists have discovered that deep-sea mining plumes can strip vital nutrition from the ocean’s twilight zone, replacing natural food with nutrient-poor sediment. The resulting “junk food” effect ...

Researchers have uncovered surprising evidence that the deep ocean’s carbon-fixing engine works very differently than long assumed. While ammonia-oxidizing archaea were thought to dominate carbon ...