A Moment With A Beautiful Glass Sponge
This delicate yet dramatic creature may look like an accessory out of Bridgerton, but it’s actually a glass sponge called a walteria sponge. Its projections are called lateralia and while scientists are unsure of their exact function, they're often found colonized by other associated biodiversity. Here you’ll spot brittle stars and a predatory sea star nestled together with the sponge as well as plenty of other critters nearby.
Learn more about this expedition in and around the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.
Kingman Reef & Palmyra Atoll
The deep-water areas around Kingman Reef and Palmyra Atoll are within one of the largest marine protected areas in the world, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument (PRIMNM). Despite a growing number of expeditions to explore deep-sea environments of the PRIMNM, including a 2019 Nautilus expedition, many areas remain unexplored.
