An ancient structure long believed to be dead in the Pacific Ocean near Canada has turned out to be functioning like a “zombie” and is covered with gigantic eggs.
This “strange object” is a ancient volcano standing at 1,100 meters tall, hidden beneath the depths of the Pacific Ocean. It was thought to have long been dormant due to the surrounding waters being very cold.
However, when a group of explorers “breached” deep into the ocean and observed the volcano up close, they discovered it was still spewing warm water, making it an astonishing nursery for marine life, especially the Pacific white skate, Bathyraja spinosissima.
A once-in-a-millennium video of a bizarre Pacific white skate struggling to lay eggs on top of the volcano – (Photo: NEPDEP 2023).
“It’s a truly special place in a truly special location,” said deep-sea biologist Cherisse Du Preez from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the lead explorer of the study.
According to Live Science, there are countless large eggs of the Pacific white skate attached to the volcano, concentrated around the summit about 1.5 kilometers below the water’s surface.
Previously, the only known nursery of the Pacific white skate in the world was in the Galápagos Islands (off the coast of Ecuador).
Moreover, the number of eggs is nearly impossible to count, possibly ranging from several hundred thousand to 1 million. Each egg is gigantic, measuring 0.5 meters in length, resembling a monster’s egg.
This world of monsters also enabled the Canadian exploration team to become the first to record the Pacific white skate laying eggs.
The Pacific white skate is a little-known creature, related to sharks and regular skates, as they inhabit extremely deep waters from 800 to 2,900 meters off the coasts of North America and Central America, according to the Red List of threatened species.
Adult Pacific white skates can grow up to 2 meters in length and lay eggs that are slightly rectangular in shape, known as “mermaid’s purses.”
Based on findings in the Galápagos, scientists believe that mother Pacific white skates have exploited the warmth from the volcano to incubate their eggs.
