Bizarre Deep-Sea Creature Named ‘Death Ball’ Sponge Discovered In Remote Corner Of The Planet

Bizarre Deep-Sea Creature Named ‘Death Ball’ Sponge Discovered In Remote Corner Of The Planet

Bizarre Deep-Sea Creature Named ‘Death Ball’ Sponge Discovered In Remote Corner Of The Planet New Carnivorous death ball sponge found 3601 meters deep east of Montagu Island – Credit: The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census/Schmidt Ocean Institute ©2025 30 previously unknown deep-sea species, including the carnivorous “death-ball” sponge, have been confirmed from one of the most remote parts of the planet. The animals were collected during a pair of 2025 research cruises to the waters around Antarctica which yielded stunning discoveries in their own right. But the honor of the discovery and the naming of the death-ball sponge belongs to the Nippon Foundation of Japan, conducting what they called the Nekton Ocean Census. At the conclusion of the trip in August, the researchers got to work at the Southern Ocean Species Discovery Workshop, where an international team of taxonomists fast-tracked species verification by triaging, imaging, and comparing specimens on site at the University of t…