A flying spaghetti monster, sea toads and whale alphabets... The oceans have so much more to show us
- Rhiannon Irving
- Jun 8
- 7 min read
This year, the theme for World Oceans Day is "Wonder: sustaining what sustains us". For a lot of my life, my passions and interests have lain very much in wildlife and birdlife on land. It was the most accessible idea to me, something tangible I could surround myself in every day. Since my visit to the Galapagos Islands however, my perceptions of life on earth have changed, and the oceans and coasts now draw the same awe and wonder I had always reserved for the land. In that brief 2 week visit, I found a fascination with the oceans and the diversity and scale of just the shallows. So to imagine the diversity and scale of the depths is almost unfathomable to me, and yet we are only just beginning to understand it.
On World Oceans Day 2025, and the release of David Attenborough: Ocean onto streaming platforms, it is essential to take note of the wonder of our oceans, yet identify the extensive and urgent threats facing them. The oceans cover over 70% of our planets surface, and yet only 5% has been explored, with only a few more percent mapped using sonar. Oceans contribute $2.5trillion to world economies, which seems good enough reason for leading policy makers to make effort to conserve them, but since the ocean provides up to 80% of the oxygen we breathe, the stakes are much much higher.
Humans now know more about space than we do about our oceans. As in space, researchers are working tirelessly to explore and study as much as possible, to preserve what we already now, and what we are yet to find. Between April 2023 and March 2025, an international marine exploration programme discovered 866 new marine species. And not just tiny corals either (as I first thought when I read the headline of the article), but a pygmy pipehorse (related to seahorses), sea stars, a squat lobster and even a new species of guitar shark. Amongst the other discoveries, The Ocean Census Science Network found a new mollusc species at 3,053m deep which has to continuously rebuild its shell as it dissolves in the acidic water, and a marine gastropod whose secretions may be used to develop pain relief in humans.
In Mid-2024, scientists discovered an underwater mountain in the waters near Chile, with a huge array of diverse and fascinating life. This expedition was run in partnership with the Ocean Census and led by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Amongst the 100+ finds (not all new discoveries, but rarely seen at the very least), a Bathyphysa conifera, a.k.a the flying spaghetti monster was seen (left), a fish in the genus Chaunocops of the sea toad family, whose appearance requires a double take (centre), and a cute (yet maybe a little creepy) Casper Octopus (right). Images courtesy of ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Discovering these species, and entire new structures and ecosystems, is a race against time before we start to lose them, as our ocean habitats are being destroyed. But rather than lose hope, it is important to look at some of the ways we are trying to turn it around.
In 2018, Reef Design Lab installed a 3D printed coral reef in the Maldives. Whilst not aimed at replacing our living corals, and not able to fix the problem of coral bleaching, the structures may enable coral polyps to find a foothold in the ever decreasing reefs. These 3D printed structures specifically replicate the reef structure of the area, and once a community is established it may attract divers away from the real reefs, reducing disturbance. In 2016, an El Niño event caused a 75% loss of coral cover in the Maldives. These structures enable researchers to study several different aspects of coral, including how different types of coral attachment affect growth. In 2022, Orsted partnered with WWF Denmark and installed reef structures between the wind turbines at an offshore wind farm. This project was extremely successful, within 2 years, the artificial reef became inhabited by a variety of organisms, several species of fish, starfish, barnacles and larger crustaceans such as crabs in the cavities of the reef. By installing these around the wind turbines, where the seafloor is barren, it provides much needed habitats and ecosystems that will enable the species to thrive and reproduce.
Another engineering advance is Biorock^TM. This involves growing limestone rocks in areas of the barren seafloor where natural recovery is unlikely. The scientists responsible for the structures founded the Global Coral Reef Alliance to enable research of the new technology. The Biorock^TM technology uses steel structures to build the limestone rock, and has a small electrical current that can be powered by renewable materials. This current supports the limestone rock to grow more quickly because of the way the minerals in the water react together to form the rock. Like the 3D printed structures, these have been successfully used to allow coral reefs to thrive and provide habitats for all manner of marine creatures.
Several schemes across the world have been launched to combat plastic pollution in the oceans. Obviously the ideal solution, and a problem that also needs to be urgently addressed, is better waste management on land. Just 10 countries contribute to two thirds of all marine litter. Approximately 1.5 million tonnes of plastic waste travels along the Yangtze River in China, compared to just 18 tonnes from the Thames. But the existing waste needs to be removed urgently in order to sustain the wildlife in the oceans. "Fishing for litter" is a scheme that runs across several North Sea nations including England. Volunteers go out on a daily basis to collect litter from the seas, which is then bagged up and as much as possible is recycled. A similar scheme in India has removed 65 tonnes of plastic from the seas in just one year, which is shredded and made into plastic chips which construction firms then purchase. In Oslo, the company Blueye is using underwater drones to search for litter at depths up to 150 metres, and then it can be collected from it's specific location. The Ocean Cleanup charity in the Netherlands has designed a 600m long stage that is propelled by current, waves and the wind, with a 'skirt' that collects litter as it moves. After this successful trial, the Ocean Cleanup believes that 40,000 tonnes of plastic waste can be collected across a 5 year period.
Fishing is of course one of the biggest threats to the sustainability of the ocean. Scientists across the world are working on ways to assist fisheries in reducing the impact of their activities on the rest of the marine ecosystem. The Marine Stewardship Council work to survey the biodiversity of fishing areas, ensuring fishing is prohibited in certain areas where endangered species exist, and implementing fishing quotas. The team also monitor levels of crab and scallop to ensure the population maintains healthy, working out how many can be caught before the species population is threatened.
In terms of advanced technological advances, drones powered by solar have been deployed from California, heading for the Bering sea in an effort to survey fish stock, weather and ocean conditions across the Arctic. Four of these drones were fitted with acoustic sensors with the ability to map part of the seafloor in the north of the Arctic. These type of explorations are vital to understand the seafloor, and then be able to protect it. On a larger scale, companies such as the Global Fishing Watch are using satellites to monitor human activity across the oceans and provide publicly-available data to governments across the world. This is being used to monitor illegal and unreported fishing which threatens biodiversity.
AI is being used in many different ways as well, such as developing 3D maps of coral reef using underwater cameras. The programme converts photos, even from amateur divers, into 3D maps which can be used to monitor coral health and structure over time. The device is also trained to identify populations of different, potentially problematic species such as crown of thorns starfish which eat coral, creating real time alerts that enable scientists to react appropriately. The AI device automatically identifies 17 species, including sharks, turtles and rays, as well as some fish species and smaller invertebrates such as urchins, building distributions of these species.
Project CETI is a collaboration which is using AI to decode the patterns of clicks used by sperm whales, what they have been calling a sperm whale phonetic alphabet, in an effort to study the social behaviour of this species and others. Understanding the intricacies of different species helps us to work out the best courses of actions when it comes to protection and conservation.
These projects are only a handful of examples as to what is currently being used to monitor and survey the ocean, provide ways of encouraging biodiversity, and combatting threats to the ocean. But it is important to remain hopeful that we can continue to explore our oceans to their full extent and protect not just the species we know about, but the potential millions we have yet to find.
"The ocean can bounce back to life..... If left alone it may not just recover but thrive beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen." DAVID ATTENBOROUGH
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