They say we know more about the surface of the Moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean, which is what made it so incredibly exciting when scientists decided to do what the rest of us are too chicken to, dive down to the seabed to get a look at what’s lurking there. The Japan “Ring Of Fire” Expedition explored some of the deepest parts of the ocean and documented nearly 30,000 organisms.

Want to see some of them? Of course you do: Watch video

Diving deep
The crewed submersibles dove down to the hadal zone between 6,939 to 9,775 meters (22,700 to 32,000 feet) below the sea in three Japanese subduction trenches called the Japan, Ryukyu, and Izu-Ogasawara trenches. It marked an unprecedented exploration of the ocean’s deepest zone that enabled them to observe some seriously weird deep-sea creatures in their natural habitats.

“This work represents one of the most detailed in-situ surveys of biodiversity and habitats in the hadal zone to date,” said Research Fellow at the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre and study lead author Dr Denise Swanborn to IFLScience. “Historically, most of our knowledge came from stationary landers or trawl samples, which make it difficult to understand how organisms live in their natural habitats and what local influences determine where we find certain organisms.”