Scientists capture ‘version’ of SpongeBob SquarePants, the curious image was captured at a depth of 1,885 meters on the slope of the Retriever Seamount and 322 kilometers from New York by a submersible robot.
Scientists capture real-life ‘version’ of SpongeBob SquarePants on Atlantic seabed
The species were detected by a deep-sea exploration mission conducted off the east coast of the US.
A scanning mission, conducted between June 30 and July 29 this year by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at great depths in the Atlantic, detected two sea creatures similar to the main protagonists of the ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ cartoon television series.
The curious image was captured at a depth of 1,885 meters on the slope of the Retriever Seamount and 322 kilometers from New York by a submersible robot remotely controlled from the exploration vessel Okeanos Explorer.
It shows a porifera – popularly known as a sea sponge – of the species ‘Hertwigia falcifera’, said marine biologist Christopher Mah, who shared the photograph.
And next to the living version of ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ was a starfish of the Chondraster species, which served as inspiration for Patrick’s character.
But given that porifers are part of the diet of starfish, it is likely that this real-life ‘Patrick’ – unlike in the animated series, where the two are best friends – approached ‘SpongeBob’ with the mere intention of feeding.
- Facebook Messenger