Why explore space, when there is so much we don't know about our own planet.

[Platapus]

http://aquaviews.net/explore-the-blu...s-harp-sponge/

When you think of the fact that scientists estimate that just half of one percent of the reachable ocean depths have been explored — excluding the deepest recesses of the sea — how can you not do cartwheels every time a new marine creature is discovered?

the discovery of the latest deep sea creature: Chondrocladia lyra, or the carnivorous harp sponge.

First discovered in 2000 by researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), this fascinating creature was recorded at depths of 10,800 to 11,500 feet below the surface off the coast of California. Considering that carnivorous sponges have only become known to science in the last two decades, to come across a specimen so unique and ingenious as the harp sponge must have been quite a thrill! Most sea sponges are filter feeders, fixed in one location on a surface and passively catching what drifts by in the water column, but carnivorous sponges actively catch and digest their prey.

There is also a very interesting video on this site.

So much we still don't understand about our world.