The man whose research team discovered the wreckage of the Titanic has now turned his attention to the deepest trough of the Caribbean Sea.
Dr Robert Ballard - and dozens of other scientists aboard a 64-metre research vessel in the Cayman Trough - are collecting samples of organisms they say might reveal how life might exist on other planets.
The team is using remotely-operated vehicles that have so far captured a dumbo octopus, named for its two ear-like fins; a sea cucumber with an unidentified appendage; and various invertebrates living around hydrothermal vents that can reach temperatures of more than 400 Celsius.
Katy Croff Bell, chief scientist of the Nautilus Exploration Program, says the team also explored an underwater mountain that had never been dived before and discovered areas of underwater landslides.
"That's the whole mission of the Nautilus - to get out, create maps of the sea floor and look to see where there are interesting geological features, which typically lead to biological life as well," Croff Bell said.
The scientists plan to launch the first exploration of a ridge located near two tectonic plates inside the trough that are moving apart and forming new earth.
The exploration of the Cayman Trough, which plunges to a depth of more than 25,000 feet (7,600 metres), will end next week. The Nautilus will return to port in September to avoid potential hurricanes before heading to Puerto Rico in October.
There, scientists hope to explore earthquake-triggered underwater landslides along the island's north coast to determine their frequency and magnitude as well as whether such slides are capable of unleashing a tsunami.
Small earthquakes occur frequently in the region, although the last tsunami was in October 1918 following an earthquake off Puerto Rico that killed 116 people, including 40 from a tsunami.
