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From toadfish and amphipods to a vivid siphonophores, the underwater mountains comprising the Nazca and Salas y Gómez Ridges host amazingly diverse life forms. The majority of both ridges lie outside of any country’s jurisdiction — in the high seas — leaving these distinctive and understudied ecosystems vulnerable to human exploitation from climate change, plastic pollution, overfishing, and potential deep-sea mining. Many experts in marine protection and policy believe that the Nazca and Salas y Gómez Ridges are a top priority for designation as one of the world’s first high-seas marine protected areas. Recent Schmidt Ocean Institute-supported expeditions to the region discovered over 150 suspected new species and several new seamounts. To expand on these expeditions’ success and contribute vital data to inform future protections of these high seas areas, the #NazcaHighSeas expedition brought an international team of scientists to map and characterize the biodiversity in the area. Here are some of the amazing scenes documented this expedition in the high seas off the coast of South America.
