In an extraordinary deep-sea discovery, scientists have captured breathtaking footage of a “flying spaghetti monster” (Bathyphysa conifera) waving its many pale pink-tipped, sausage-like arms nearly 2,200 feet (665 meters) below the ocean surface. The footage, recorded by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed from the research vessel Falkor (too), was filmed near a previously unexplored seamount on the Nazca Ridge, an underwater mountain chain in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, approximately 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) off the coast of Chile.
The spaghetti monster, a colonial organism composed of thousands of multicellular “zooids” that perform specialized functions like reproduction or digestion, appeared almost alien in the video, with its filamentous appendages swaying in the deep-sea currents. These carnivorous creatures, which can grow several feet long, typically inhabit depths between 3,300 and 9,900 feet (1,000 to 3,000 meters). The seamount where this specimen was found towers an impressive 10,200 feet (3,109 meters) above the seafloor, harboring a wealth of marine life.
“The seamounts of the Southeastern Pacific host remarkable biological diversity,” said Alex David Rogers, a marine biologist and science director at Ocean Census, a global initiative to accelerate the discovery of marine species. This expedition, led by the Schmidt Ocean Institute, marks the third exploration of underwater mountain chains off Chile’s coast in 2025, following two earlier missions between January and February that uncovered over 100 new species and a massive seamount along the Nazca Ridge and neighboring Salas y Gómez Ridge.
These efforts have significantly expanded our knowledge of the region’s biodiversity, increasing the number of known species in the southeastern Pacific from 1,019 in 2023 to over 1,300 today. “This research will significantly enhance our understanding of the distribution of remarkable lifeforms on these underwater mountains, including several that have never before been mapped or seen by human eyes,” Rogers added.
The recent dive also yielded other groundbreaking discoveries, including the first-ever footage of a live Promachoteuthis squid, a small, weak-muscled species previously known only from dead specimens. Additionally, researchers captured videos of a Casper octopus, a newly discovered creature so novel it has yet to be given a scientific name. These findings highlight the untapped mysteries of the deep ocean and the critical role of exploration in uncovering Earth’s hidden biodiversity.