Great Balls of Snot

Giant sinking mucus "houses" or "sinkers," produced by tadpole-like animals not much bigger than an index, finger are responsible for the amount of food on the sea floor. This explains the previously unexplained reason for the existence of life in a part of the ocean thought to be without enough carbon-based food to support life.

Rob Sherlock of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute told LiveScience:

"A sinker is basically snot. It's very fragile. We have very skilled ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) pilots and special containers to collect these things. We were only able to adequately collect one out of four." Small sea critters and other food particles get stuck to the mucus and end up on the bottom of the ocean.

The animals responsible for making sinkers are called giant larvaceans. They spin a mucus web, about a yard in diameter. They sit in the middle of the house and use it to filter food that is small enough for them to eat. For some gross reason, scientists attempting to capture the snot find it hard to keep in hand. Perhaps they should try a tissue.