Scientists aboard NOAA’s research vessel Okeanos Explorer were using an ROV to explore at depths between 700 and 5000m when they came across the giant sponge, on a ridge extending from a seamount south of Pearl and Hermes Atolls in Papahanaumokuakea Marine Park, the USA’s biggest conservation area.
Also read: Divers discover new purple & green sponges
The sponge measured 3.5 x 2m, which NOAA compared to the size of a minivan.
“Finding such an enormous and presumably old sponge emphasises how much can be learned from studying deep and pristine environments,” said the expedition’s science leader Daniel Wagner. Some species of large sponge found in shallow waters have been estimated to live for more than 2300 years, so the team’s find could be several millennia old.
The discovery came during last year’s Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deepwaters off Hawaii expedition, but details have only just been published, in the scientific journal Marine Biodiversity.
NOAA’s Offices of National Marine Sanctuaries and Ocean Exploration & Research worked with University of Hawaii to study the find.
The expedition was part of a three-year study of deepwater areas of US marine protected areas in the central and western Pacific. See the moment of discovery on video here
