A Hidden World of Strange Starfish-Like Creatures in the Abyss

The 27-ton machine was to be deployed into the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), where the miles-deep seafloor is spotted with dark, fist-size nodules of manganese and other valuable metals. There, the machine would sweep across the sand and, luck willing, suck up nodules, in a test run for mining operations to come. A team of scientists led by Magdalini Christodoulou of the German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research has now shown that the bottom of the CCZ is home to a hidden world of strange and ancient creatures that evolved in the dark of the deep and that have only just come to light.