From a locomotive graveyard to unexplained underwater structures, and even one of the
most bizarre sea creatures ever...Here are 10 of the weirdest things found in the ocean….
10.
The Nippo Maru
The Nippo Maru was a 350-foot transport ship that was originally a passenger and cargo
freighter, but was seized in 1941 by the Japanese military.
On February 17th, 1944, the 2,754 ton ship was at anchor to the east of Dublon island,
carrying firewood, water, armaments, and a tank… when it was sunk by three 500-pound
bombs from the USS Essex.
Now, the ship rests on an even keel between 90 feet and 155 feet beneath the surface and
was only recently discovered!!
It has become a popular attraction in Truk lagoon, where visiting divers can see 3 anti-tank
howitzer guns on the deck, a battle tank, and a battery of guns.
There's also a fallen anti-aircraft gun, a truck hanging overboard, and a huge number
of artifacts such as shells, ammo, and even beer bottles.
It’s a sobering reminder of what happened during the war, and a weird thing to see alongside
the surrounding beauty of the lagoon.
9.
A Giant Stone Sculpture
In 2013, archaeologists discovered a stone sculpture more than 700 feet beneath the waters
of the Sea of Galilee.
The conical pile of cobbles and boulders was, according to researchers, definitely manmade,
and is 230 feet in diameter.
Some of the boulders are as big as 3 feet long, but there are no obvious signs of cutting
or chiseling.
Quite what the purpose of this particular sculpture was is unclear.
It’s not uncommon in the sea of Galilee to find underwater structures in the shallower
regions, because these attract fish and made it much easier for fishermen to get a good
catch.
This one, though, is much much deeper… and there’s some speculation that it may even
have been built on dry land before being moved to the water.
Some think it could be a cairn, perhaps to mark a burial site, and could be as much as
4000 years old.
Further research is clearly needed, and who knows what else lies in wait in the surrounding
area?
8.
The Yonaguni Monument
Another strange underwater structure is known as the Yonaguni monument, which lies off the
coast of Yonaguni; the southernmost of Japan’s Ryukyu islands.
Since they were discovered in 1987, many have claimed they are actually man-made steps and
there is much debate on whether this monolith is actually a natural formation.
The various formations are made from sandstones and mudstones, with the main one being a 490
by 130-foot rectangle, which is about 90 feet tall and 16 feet beneath the surface.
There are also some pillars, a ledge, a column, and a number of other unusual features…
and enough that many people are convinced that they could only have been created by
stoneworkers.
Rather than being either completely man made or a natural feature, the likely explanation
seems to be that they were large stones that were adapted by humans.
Sea levels were much lower thousands of years ago, and it's likely that there's more evidence
of civilization hidden beneath the waters in the nearby region.
Why not?
7.
Jurassic-Era Microbes
The sediment beneath the world's oceans is rich with microbial life, with more than 90
percent of all unicellular organisms being thought to live there.
It's an area of acute interest to researchers and, in 2012, one team announced something
totally unexpected.
They had been testing core samples of red clay from various sites along the equator
and the North Pacific Gyre current system in the Pacific Ocean.
They dug 92 feet into the seabed and removed material that dated back to between 70 and
86 million years ago….
Right in the middle of the Jurassic era when the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
By testing with oxygen sensors, they found that there were microbes living in the samples-
ones that were using oxygen for respiration, although at a very slow rate due to the low
levels of nutrients that deep down.
It takes these microbes around 1000 years to double their biomass, and therefore divide-
while in comparison, it takes E.Coli only 30 minutes to do the same.
The researchers have suggested that these organisms are living right on the limit, and
it’s yet more evidence that life can survive in much more hostile environments than we
would expect.
If they can survive down there, then where will we find them next?
And now for number 6, but first if you are new here welcome!!
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6.
A Train Graveyard
On to New Jersey, now, and a surprising discovery that was made just off the coast.
In 1985, an oceanographer was mapping the seabed with a magnetometer, when it returned
some strong readings.
At first, it wasn't clear what he had found because the water was so murky, but on further
dives, it became clear that this was the final resting place of two steam engines, 90 feet
beneath the surface.
Further investigation has found them to be Planet Class 2-2-2 T models, a rare locomotive
design from the 1850s.
This model, weighing about 15 tons, was virtually obsolete as soon as it had been made.
They were designed for pulling heavy loads, but other trains at the time weighed more
than 35 tons and had far more power.
Quite why these two found themselves in the water, though, is not entirely clear.
Not only are there no records of them being lost in the sea, but there are also no records
of these two engines being manufactured in the first place!
It's thought likely that they were being transported from Boston to the Mid-Atlantic when they
were hit by a storm 5 miles off the coast.
Did the trains fall off the deck in the strong winds, or were they pushed off by the crew
to lighten the load?
We may never know, but 150 years later the rusted and barnacle-ridden structures are
quite unusual.
5.
Giant Crucifix
There’s a place in Petoskey, Michigan, that attracts thousands of visitors a year, but
this is no usual sightseeing tour.
20 feet beneath the surface is an 1800 pound statue of the crucifixion, which has been
carved from Italian marble.
So the story goes, the statue was originally commissioned in the late 50s or early 60s
as a memorial to a young man who had died in the east of Michigan.
When it arrived, though, the marble was cracked and the buyers refused to accept it, so it
was left behind in a local church.
A local group had a unique idea of what they could do with the statue, so they purchased
it, fixed it, and dedicated it to lost divers after a friend recently passed away.
In 1962 they positioned it 65 feet deep in the bay, and more than 1000 people came to
see its first dedication.
Every year, a group would return to see it, but as time passed it slid deeper and deeper
into the bay.
It was eventually re-positioned to where it is today and was re-dedicated in 1986.
Now, when it's icy, you can walk out and see the crucifix beneath the water, in what is
described as an almost mystical experience.
4.
Manganese Nodules
There’s still plenty we don’t know about the underwater realm, and there’s one mystery
that still confuses researchers despite being found throughout the world’s seas- manganese
nodules.
The metal lumps have been found in every ocean, but are most common in the Pacific.
At first, they look like burnt pancakes, but when you scratch away at the surface you find
that they are layer upon layer of metallic ore that has crystallized around a core.
The cores, themselves, can be fossils, rocks, or fragments of other nodules.
It’s thought that they grow very slowly, perhaps around less than an inch every million
years- with the largest being around 10 million years old.
This means that the nodules have the potential to hold a record of the environment over that
time, and some have even suggested they could be a valuable source of rare materials, such
as nickel, copper, and cobalt, which are also mixed in with the manganese.
The difficulty, of course, is that they are found at depths of up to 18,000 feet, so harvesting
them is not yet commercially viable.
Why these nodules develop is not known.
Suggestions include that they are the result of chemical reactions in the seawater encouraged
by microbes, activity from underwater hot springs, or the way that excess metal in water
is deposited.
Research expeditions are currently planned to collect more of these nodules and, hopefully,
explain why it is that they form.
3.
The Baltic Sea Anomaly
When explorers were mapping the floor of the Baltic Sea in 2011 in search of a shipwreck,
they found something quite unexpected.
Known as the Baltic Sea Anomaly, the object is 300 feet beneath the surface, around 100
feet long, and 26 feet tall.
There have been a number of suggestions as to what it might be- such as a UFO or remains
of an ancient city, and its resemblance to the Millenium Falcon can’t be denied!
But if this object was made… by man, or anyone else… how did it come to be submerged
so far out into the sea?
Since its discovery, further expeditions have been sent to find out more, and a study in
2018 claims to have solved the mystery.
Much of the geological structure of the region was formed by glacial erosion during the last
ice age, and it's likely that the anomaly was a deposit left behind.
Samples taken from it included a large black rock that is likely to be volcanic rock and
evidence that it is part of a glacial process.
Still, the original crew that discovered the anomaly refuse to accept these findings.
They claim that their electrical equipment stopped working in proximity to the structure,
and think this is proof enough that all is not as it may seem.
2.
The Underwater City of Cuba
In 2001, researchers were working with the Cuban government to search the seabed for
evidence of long lost Spanish treasure galleons, when they found evidence of what they believed
to be an underwater city.
The objects that showed up in their scans were between 2,000 and 2,500 feet deep and
included symmetrical and geometrical stone shapes unlike anything you'd expect to find
in nature, and which are often seen in human settlements.
An underwater robot was sent to get visual evidence and took images of the structures
that seemed to be small pyramids and spheres.
They were made from massive smooth stones, and this raised an important question- how
was it possible for these to be here?
This is a region that’s been covered in water for millennia, and it was estimated
that it could take as long as 50,000 years to move these stones in place and submerge
them in this position.
Legends from the Maya spoke of a long lost city… could this be the remains, possibly
having once stood on land and then washed into the depths of the ocean, or sunk by tectonic
activity?
Research continues, but as of yet, no-one has any conclusive answers.
1.
The Dramatic Cucumber
There are countless weird and strange species of animal that live beneath the waves, but
one species of sea cucumber has been recorded performing a rather unusual defensive technique.
Found across the world, there are more than 1250 different types of sea cucumber, each
of which combs the sea floor with their tentacle-like tube feet around their mouths in search of
algae and microscopic creatures.
They are, though, sitting ducks for threats from above, and have developed an ingenious
way of deterring predators.
They are able to violently contract their muscles and eject internal organs and material
out of their anus to evade capture.
Any important organs that they lose can subsequently be re-generated if they manage to survive
an encounter with a predator.
Their rear ends also act as secondary mouths, through which they can pump water in and out
of their bodies at rates of up to 30 fluid ounces (860 ml) an hour.
While their deposit may seem like a lot of waste to be left on the ocean floor, this
is actually a vital process for the health of the ecosystem.
It helps to buffer against ocean acidification on coral reefs and provides nutrients so plants
such as mangroves and seagrass can grow.
Dramatic and effective all at once!!
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