What is a 'death ball sponge' and why was it one of 2025's strangest discoveries?

The answer

Among the most unusual new species described in 2025 was the 'death ball sponge,' a deep-sea organism that captures and traps tiny animals in a sticky spherical structure. Unlike the bath sponges most people imagine, deep-sea carnivorous sponges are predatory - they've evolved to catch prey because nutrients are scarce in the deep ocean. The death ball sponge was one of 14 strange new species described from ocean depths exceeding 6,000 meters, alongside a record-setting mollusk and a 'popcorn-like' parasitic isopod. These discoveries highlight how little we know about life in the hadal zone - the deepest trenches of the ocean - where new and bizarre organisms continue to surface with every expedition.