An expedition off Argentina in August 2025 attracted attention when viewers saw a starfish resembling Patrick Star from SpongeBob. The deep-sea trip was streamed live, but the starfish was only one part of the discoveries. Using a remotely controlled underwater robot called SuBastian, researchers collected animals, mostly from Mar del Plata Canyon.
An international team later met at Maimonides University in Buenos Aires to study the collection. During a two-week workshop, the scientists named 57 species new to science. They also identified five new genera, which are larger groups of related species. The discoveries included sea cucumbers, corals, and tiny crustaceans—animals with hard outer coverings. One sea cucumber received the nickname Loki because its horn-like body parts resemble the Norse god's hat.
The expedition belonged to Ocean Census, an effort to document deep-sea life worldwide before threats such as climate change and underwater mining potentially disturb it. The results expand knowledge of marine life in the South Atlantic, and Ocean Census makes the information available around the world.
