The ROV, named the Okeanos Explorer, is a research vessel that has spent nearly four months in the water analysing and studying parts of the North Atlantic as part of the NOAA’s Voyage to the Ridge 2022 exploration series. “Scientists think it could be a soft coral, sponge, or tunicate... but right now, it remains a mystery,” the NOAA noted in a statement, according to the Independent. A researcher said that the "bumpy blue thing" was "definitely not a rock".