Deep under the waves, the ocean is not just a dark place. The underwater landscapes hold ancient events, mysterious animal behavior, and vast gardens of glass and octopuses.

Each contributes new facts and riddles to this incredible aquatic world. However, the ocean also has a scary side—from wrecking the weather on land to blowing giant holes in the seafloor and countries.

10 The Loudest Fish

One can be forgiven for not associating fish with noise. More often than not, they are mute. One species, however, can be very vocal during reproduction. The Gulf corvina is a large, silver fish about the size of a snowboard.

During spring, when the tides and lunar phases are perfect, shoals migrate to the Colorado River Delta. The event is an unforgettable one and worth seeing. When corvinas gather, they pack together in a sheet that can span for miles.

In 2014, scientists followed the spawning shoal and used underwater equipment to record their sounds. The loudest noise captured during the study hit a deafening 150 decibels, which is a record among fish.

Additionally, the sound also rated among the loudest ever recorded underwater—and very capable of damaging the hearing of other creatures, including sea mammals. Researchers believe that male corvinas are responsible for the chorus. Similar to frogs and crickets, the boys produce a throaty croak to attract females.^[1]

9 Return Of The Blob

“The blob” is not as adorable as it sounds. This massive anomaly—a patch of hot water in the Northeast Pacific—affects the weather in extreme ways. The blob was blamed for the persistent California drought (2013–2015), Seattle’s hottest year (2015), and the freakish polar vortex intrusions of two winters (2013–2014 and 2014–2015).

In 2018, the return of the oceanic hot spot was caused by unusually warm weather in Alaska during the fall. Though the blob is famously crabby, it remains hard to predict the phenomenon’s moods.

When it made another appearance in 2016, the spot showed many signs of troubling times ahead but faded away before anything could go wrong. The latest manifestation leans toward weakening in the same way, but even the experts admit that nothing is certain when it comes to the blob.

Either way, Alaska has already suffered notable damage. The southeastern rain forest is in the grip of a persistent drought, and snowfall showed a record delay.^[2]

8 Rectangular Iceberg

In 2018, an unusual photo turned an iceberg into a social media star. A far cry from the usual mountain-shaped behemoths, this icy wonder was almost perfectly rectangular and flat.

As it turns out, this shape is not unknown to scientists. Called “tabular icebergs,” they form during calving (when pieces dislodge from a parent iceberg). The rectangles commonly occur after an ice shelf extends too far and then breaks off at the tip. This gives them a geometric shape.^[3]

A whopping 90 percent of the tabular iceberg remains hidden underwater. This unseen part is usually perfectly angular, too. In this case, the sheet came from the Larsen C ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Even though these floating tabletops are known to science, this one was unusual. For once, it was almost short enough to be a square. The size of the object remains unknown. But judging from the image, it could be as long as 1.6 kilometers (1 mi).

7 Largest Octopus Nursery

Most octopuses live solitary lives. This made the discovery of about 100 nesting together near Costa Rica a sensational find. However, this nursery paled in comparison to another found by accident in 2018.

Off the coast of California, marine biologists steered a remotely operated vehicle at a depth of 3.2 kilometers (2 mi). The goal was to study an underwater volcano called the Davidson Seamount.

As the vehicle turned a corner, it happened across the world’s biggest deep-sea octopus garden. The species was Muusoctopus robustus, and over 1,000 huddled together. Nearly 99 percent were females guarding eggs between the volcano’s cracks.^[4]

Their unprecedented conglomeration is not the only unanswered question about the Davidson group. Researchers do not know why the water appears to shimmer around the octopuses.

One theory suggests that heat is behind the glitter, which could explain why the creatures gathered at Davidson to successfully incubate their eggs. Since the volcano is extinct, the heat could be coming from an unknown source.

6 Canyon That Removes CO₂

The Porcupine Bank Canyon is an underwater trench marking the border of Ireland’s continental shelf. In 2018, an effort was made to map the sheer cliffs and contours. Near the canyon’s edge, the research drone discovered something amazing: The underwater trench removed carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere using two species and death.

Porcupine Bank came fringed with corals snacking on dead plankton. While dwelling near the surface, living plankton grow by packing their bodies with CO₂ from the atmosphere. When they die, they sink down into the ocean, taking the CO₂ with them.

In turn, the corals eat the plankton and use that carbon to build their own structures. When the coral perishes, it tumbles deeper into the canyon. Researchers found a massive amount of dead coral inside the canyon, all with CO₂ locked up inside them.^[5]

Sadly, this process cannot stop climate change. But at least, it showed that nature has ways to remove some of the greenhouse gas from the air.

5 Garden Of Glass

When the deepest volcano was found in 2015, it was not just a cone-shaped mountain lower than the rest. It was anything but plain—and very unexpected. A deep-sea submersible was investigating the Mariana Trough in the Pacific Ocean when it reached a depth of 4,500 meters (14,700 ft). There, it encountered an environment straight out of a Gothic novel.

An underwater volcano had released intertwined and blackened lava tendrils, which scientists likened to “a nightmarish garden of glass.” Inside a 4.5-kilometer-deep (3 mi) trench, cold water had rapidly cooled the lava into a glassy substance. The frozen twists and turns covered an area 7.3 kilometers (4.5 mi) long.

The visuals are heart-stopping, but something else turned the discovery into a scientific gem. The deepest volcanic eruption on Earth was also fresh. Only a few months old, the undamaged site can advance knowledge about volcanoes on land, how eruptions affect ocean chemistry, and when different species colonize a lava field.^[6]

4 White Shark Cafe

Once a year, a group of sharks confused biologists. Known as the northeastern Pacific great whites, they normally cruise California’s coast, a region rich with prey.

In December, the sharks journey into the Pacific and stop about halfway to Hawaii. Satellite studies suggested that the place, nicknamed “White Shark Cafe,” was a marine desert without prey. Despite this, the predators gathered in droves and stayed for winter and spring.

In 2018, scientists wanted to know how the sharks survived and why they found the location so attractive. They followed the whites and also tagged a few. When the research boat arrived at the cafe, they found the place teeming with fish, squid, phytoplankton, and jellyfish.^[7]

These critters took daily trips up and down from the depths. The tagged sharks showed that the predators did the same thing. During the day, they hunted up to 450 meters (1,500 ft) down. At night, they kept to shallow dives, about 200 meters (650 ft).

An unusual gender mystery turned up. During April, the males dramatically stepped up their activity to around 140 dives a day. Researchers do not understand why this behavior is displayed by only one gender.

3 Methane Craters

Recently, scientists visited craters lining the seafloor between the archipelago of Svalbard and Norway. First discovered in the 1990s, they were huge but few. Upon arrival, the team was shocked to find hundreds of previously unrecorded holes.

In a single area near one of Svalbard’s islands, the floor was pockmarked with more than 100. Astoundingly, they had been blown from solid bedrock. The sheer force created craters that measured up to 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) in diameter. The culprit was methane gas from the last ice age.

In the past, enormous ice layers kept the trapped methane in place. Once these melted, the gas exploded. The largest pockets blew 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, but some remain intact and could punch large holes south of Svalbard.^[8]

Satellite images showed that pingos, hills with ice cores, preceded most of the craters. Researchers suspect that the Norwegian pingos had frozen gas instead of normal ice and were possibly instrumental in an explosion. Incredibly, once scientists knew what to look for, they found 7,000 gas-filled pingos in thawing permafrost.

2 Lost Volcanic World

In 2018, scientists investigated something that would not raise many eyebrows—the link between the East Australian Current’s nutrient levels and how phytoplankton behaved. Part of this study included mapping the seafloor. A stunning discovery followed—a lost world dominated by dramatic volcanic peaks.

Some were sharp, while others resembled immense plateaus. Smaller cones made up the rest. Located near the east coast of Australia, the extinct volcanoes towered 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) high.

The depth of the valleys likely contributed to how this underwater wonderland avoided detection for so long. The highest parts of the mountains were still 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) below the surface.

Years of research are required to understand a large geographical area that is seen for the first time. However, researchers are positive about one exciting suspicion—this was the spot that helped Australia and Antarctica to separate 30 million years ago.^[9]

The birth of the volcano chain was pivotal to crumble the Earth’s crust in preparation for continental division. The landscape also hosts a breathtaking ecosystem, including a huge pod of at least 60 pilot whales.

1 Brewing Eruption Underneath Japan

Researchers are well aware that an ancient, underwater volcano lurks underneath Japan. The Kikai Caldera is prone to super-eruptions and, in the past, experienced three devastating episodes. The last time was 7,000 years ago. The eruption was one of history’s biggest and destroyed a vast area of the Japanese archipelago.

In 2018, several expeditions using a wide array of equipment all came to the same conclusion. Underneath the Kikai Caldera was a massive lava dome. The giant bubble held over 32 cubic kilometers (8 mi³) of magma.

Analysis showed that the dome contained lava chemically different from the last eruption. This meant that the giant structure was not a leftover of the event that razed the Japanese archipelago but a completely new formation.

For thousands of years, the magma continued building up inside this new reservoir—something scientists view as a preparation for the next super-eruption. Earlier research indicated that the probability of a caldera catastrophe in the next 100 years was about 1 percent.

The discovery of the active dome was not so comforting. Should Kikai erupt, 110 million people would be in danger.^[10]

Even though oceans have been around for eons, they remain a mystery to humans. Oceans stretch miles across the planet, with many tales about treacherous journeys across the sea. The earth’s oceans are filled with crushing pressures, terrifying predators, and intense currents, making it virtually impossible to fully explore the depths of these dark and mysterious realms.

While these conditions make the ocean uninhabitable for humans, deep sea creatures have been able to adapt and thrive in these dangerous parts. Ocean animals have developed fascinating compounds and chemicals to survive in the ocean’s depths, and these remarkable elements may also be effective in boosting human survival.

So let’s dive in as we unearth some of the most un-be-reef-able medical breakthroughs discovered in the ocean!

Related: Top 10 Disgusting And Unexpected Medical Treatments

10 Snail Venom 1,000 Times More Potent Than Morphine

It sounds a bit silly when people first hear that a species named the Pacific cone snail exists, but don’t let your guard down around these creatures! Smithsonian Magazine states that the Pacific cone snail’s “poisonous harpoon-like stingers can paralyze and kill fish and humans.” A biochemist named Baldomero Olivera decided to think outside the box and theorized that the Pacific cone snail’s venom could provide therapeutic remedies for humans and began extensive research.

Eventually, further snail venom research led to the creation of a drug named Prialt. An Irish pharmaceutical firm found that Prialt “appears to be 1,000 times more potent than morphine” while lacking the addictive and mind-altering side effects. In a Prialt clinical trial, a man suffering from long-term cancer side effects reported that within days of being treated with Prialt, his pain had diminished greatly. With the discovery that Prialt had effective therapeutic benefits, Prialt got FDA approval and is still being utilized worldwide today. ^[1]

9 Breakthrough AIDS Treatment Found in Sea Sponges

No, these real-life sea sponges don’t live in a pineapple under the sea. Instead, they roam the sea floor. Despite their unassuming appearance, sea sponges contain extremely beneficial biochemical compounds. According to Smithsonian Ocean, organic chemist Werner Bergmann discovered that sea sponges contain powerful chemicals that halt viral infections. From this, the compounds found in sea sponges were used as models for drug breakthroughs. Thus, the groundbreaking HIV drug AZT was discovered!

Michigan Medicine states the source of HIV’s ability to wreak havoc on the body is a protein called Nef. As stated in the article, “HIV uses Nef to avoid blowing its cover and bring the immune system’s swift justice down on its hiding places.” Fortunately, the sea sponge’s bacteria can make substances that can interfere with Nef and stop it from working. Thus, with the approval from the FDA, AZT was able to be distributed during the 1980s and helped to combat the symptoms of many who were suffering from HIV/AIDS.^[2]

8 We Can Thank Horseshoe Crabs for Safe Vaccinations

Horseshoe crabs are remarkable underwater creatures. This species seems almost mythological, with over 450 million years of existence and bright blue blood. However, these animals are not only real but also life-saving! According to the Natural History Museum, horseshoe crab blood contains important immune cells that are “exceptionally sensitive to toxic bacteria.” When invading bacteria enter the horseshoe crab, these cells clot around the invaders and protect the rest of the crab’s body from toxins.

From this discovery, scientists formulated a test for new vaccines to identify and remove contaminants. Since the 1970s, this technique has allowed medical practitioners to deliver safe vaccines rather than syringes full of bad bacteria that could make humans very sick. With the benefits horseshoe crabs have contributed to vaccine development, further research on horseshoe crabs may aid in new vaccine advances in the future.^[3]

7 Marine Worm Blood May Help with Blood Transfusions

Worms, while not exciting, have been found to have fascinating properties. The National Library of Medicine published a study showing that the hemoglobin derived from marine worms’ red blood cells is “an efficient therapeutic O2 carrier with potential anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and antioxidant properties.” It may also play a role in helping doctors preserve organs. Thus, these properties could start being used to aid in blood transfusions.

With blood donations in short supply, humans began testing animal blood transfusions; unfortunately, animal blood can cause allergic reactions or damage to the kidneys. However, marine worm blood provided a much different result, not showing any of these effects. Additionally, human blood transfusions bear the risk of clogging kidney filtration systems, while marine worm proteins have a very low risk of having this effect. With their promising benefits, scientists agree that marine worms are worth further research!^[4]

6 Common Ocean Bacteria Can Disrupt Cancer Cell Growth

While hard to pronounce, cyanobacteria is an easy-to-find bacteria in the ocean. While these creatures are microscopic, they contain amazing elements that allow them to survive in harsh conditions. One remarkable compound produced by cyanobacteria, named gatorbulin-1, was reported on in an Ocean Smithsonian Institute article, stating that gatorbulin-1 “interferes with cell division by hindering the cell machinery that carries out the duplicating process.”

Cancer cells’ ability to multiply rapidly is detrimental to the human body; therefore, having a compound that can halt the duplication process is a large milestone for scientists. Dolastatin 10, another compound found in marine cyanobacteria, served as the blueprint for the development of three FDA-approved drugs for various lymphomas and refractory bladder cancer. Like gatorbulin-1, it disrupts the formation of microtubules. The findings from cyanobacteria have made waves in the medical community; thus, scientists continue to dive deep underwater to find out more.^[5]

5 Starfish May Be Able to Combat Inflammatory Diseases

While the common starfish isn’t likely to befriend sea sponges like in Spongebob Squarepants, the two species offer many medical benefits. A BBC News article states that starfish may be the missing link to finding a “new treatment for inflammatory conditions such as asthma, hay fever, and arthritis.” This is due to the starfish’s ability to keep their surfaces clear, with nothing sticking on the animal, while man-made structures become covered with marine life. Starfish can avoid other creatures sticking to them because of the “slimy goo” that covers their bodies.

Scientists thus theorized that this aspect of starfish survival may be able to treat inflammation, which occurs when white blood cells stick to the blood vessel wall and build up, damaging body tissues. Scientists believe that coating our blood vessels in some substance, much like the starfish uses this goo, could prevent this problem. By using the starfish as a model, scientists are looking to create treatments inspired by starfish “slimy goo.” With more time, starfish research may provide accessible treatments for inflammatory diseases such as arthritis and asthma.^[3]

4 Sea Squirts: Cute Name & Mind-Blowing Anti-Cancer Benefits

Cancer is a serious disease that is difficult to cure; therefore, scientists are determined to find ways to combat cancerous tumors. Fortunately, animals called sea squirts may be able to provide effective anti-tumor capabilities. Harvard University researchers found that sack-like sea squirts living on the sea floor make a complex anti-tumor drug hundreds to thousands of times more powerful than any cancer potion now in use. This exponential increase in potency was groundbreaking in cancer research.

Eventually, a drug called ecteinascidin was created to provide chemotherapy to cancer patients. Unfortunately, the drug required laborious efforts and needed a high volume of sea squirts. In fact, ten pounds (4.5 kilograms) of sea squirts yielded only millionths of an ounce of ecteinascidin. Thus, when post-doctorate fellow David Gin found a way to make the drug synthetically, ecteinascidin took off.

After long-term analysis, it was found that ecteinascidin, also named trabectidin, was “associated with high rates of survival and clinical benefit rate for patients with advanced high-grade soft tissue sarcomas.” The fact that a species called the sea squirt can provide chemotherapy to humans is a reminder not to judge a book by its cover!^[7]

3 Phytoplankton Can Fight off Muscle Damage

With the mention of sponges, crabs, and starfish, we couldn’t help ourselves from mentioning plankton, too! Researchers found that phytoplankton, tiny deep-sea algae that float in the ocean, are rich in antioxidants that could help sustain performance and lower muscle damage. A study published in the National Library of Medicine tested participants divided into two groups. One group was given phytoplankton supplements, while the other was given a placebo. Then, both groups underwent a strenuous cross-training event.

Researchers found that the placebo group showed greater muscle damage than those given the phytoplankton supplements. Therefore, researchers concluded that because phytoplankton supplements “operate through an elevating oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle,” the participants receiving the supplements were “able to improve recovery, sustain power, and prevent declines in strength across repeated endurance and cross-training bouts.” With further research, athletes competing in high-stress environments may soon have access to improved strength and recovery.^[8]

2 Moss-Like Sea Creatures May Be Hiding Anti-Cancer Compounds

The Bugula neritina species have been dubbed pests best known for fouling up marine environments. However, this bryozoan animal is hiding a remarkable power inside its bacteria. Bryostatin 1 is a substance that “binds to and inhibits cell-signalizing enzyme protein,” which can stop rapid cell growth and encourage the death of cancer cells. Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discovered that the anticancer drug Bryostatin 1 can be extracted from colonies of Bugula neritina.

Although extracting bryostatin from Bugula neritina proved difficult to collect without harming the environment, the animals could serve as research models for more efficient bryostatin production. After decades of testing, Stanford researchers discovered a production method that was tens of thousands of times more efficient than extracting bryostatin from B. neritina. With clinical trials showing promise, Bryostatin 1 is on its way to treating cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and strokes!^[9]

1 A World of Possibilities in Our Oceans

With the constant evolution and resistance of diseases in today’s day and age, it’s important to continue searching for new, effective medical treatments. A study published by the National Library of Medicine states that the ocean has “more than 13,000 molecules described out of which 3,000 are having active properties,” which indicates the plethora of medical breakthroughs still hiding underwater.

However, it’s important to continue to keep ocean ecosystems pristine. As stated in a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration video, “The ocean may hold the key for finding new medicines, but not if we don’t keep it—and everything that lives there—healthy and pollution free.” So treat the ocean with respect—if the ocean is thriving, human survival may also thrive!^[10]

Ocean cities. Settlements in seas. Famed writer Jules Verne was on to something with “Propeller Island,” after all.

In this account, we explore some of the most ingenious ways in which human settlements have taken a marine form that thrive in modern times, while paying respects to some real-life versions of Atlantis found below the waves.

10. MS The World

The brainchild of Knut U. Kloster, MS The World is remarkable and globally unique condo at sea. With everything from sports facilities to a grocery store, this “largest residential yacht on the planet” is an apartment ship with 165 residential apartments, in total measuring 644 feet, 2 inches long and 98 feet wide. A board of directors elected by the residents, plus committees, plan out the ship’s travel routes, budgeting and on-board activities, along with shore stops.

The attractive vessel is a place to reside, with its fully livable apartments that range from its little studio residences to middle ground studio one or two-bedroom apartments, regular two-bedroom apartments, all the way up to three-bedroom suites with a full range of amenities. One to three expeditions (typically informed by 20 or more relevant experts, for planning) take in culture, scenery, and natural history of places like Madagascar, the British Isles/Hebrides, and the Northwest Passage.

9. Kansai International Airport

A masterpiece of Japanese engineering, Kansai Interntional Airport, opened in 1994, is an airport in the middle of the sea. Well, in the middle of Osaka Bay, offshore of Japan’s main island, Honshu, to be exact. Originally planned to be floating, the airport was instead built on sand, creating a runway-shaped construction surrounded by water, with all the amenities expected at an airport.

The airport is connected to Honshu by a narrow strip for rail and road transport, and has been judged as an engineering disaster due it its history of sinkage into the soft sands and mud of Osaka Bay and the subsequent costs. The airport nevertheless received recognition as an American Society of Civil Engineers “Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium” award recipient in April 2001. The airport notably weathered a 120 mile-per-hour typhoon in 1998 and survived the 1995 Kobe earthquake without destruction despite the thousands of deaths on Honshu.

8. Jules’ Undersea Lodge

While not quite a full city or even a town, Jules’ Undersea Lodge is a most unique hotel that requires SCUBA certification for guest access. Located in Florida, the structure is located 21 feet below the waves. Celebrity visitors to the lodge have included Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler and former Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau.

The lodge itself is located in a mangrove environment with 42-inch windows while hot showers, music and movies, beds with a view of wild fish outside, and a kitchen containing a microwave and fridge are present in the lodge. A variety of stay packages ranging from just a few hours to a full overnighter are available, along with dive training if the required certification is not already held by visitors.

7. Palm Islands

The United Arab Emirates is a land home to some of the world’s most remarkable feats of marine engineering. Take the Palm Islands, a set of stunning marine archipelagos with rays and centerpieces that can be most fully appreciated from aerial views or space photographs. The islands include Palm Jumeirah, a precisely palm leaf shaped archipelago, Palm Deira Island, and Palm Jebel Ali, located along the Dubai coastline. Started in 2001, the developments contain a vast array of dwellings and commercial buildings constructed on the rays and stems. Breakwaters protect the construction works on the islands.

The project scale was most impressive. The first of the Palm Islands, Palm Jumeirah, utilized a whopping 3 billion cubic feet of sand, dredged from the Persian Gulf, built into the palm shape with GPS, while mountain rock totaling seven million tons was used to form the seven-mile breakwater protection system. Near the Palm Islands are two more human-made archipelagos, The World, named after its construction in the likeness of a map of the Earth, and The Universe, built to resemble the Milky Way Galaxy.

6. Neft Dashlari (Oily Rocks)

Extending from overturned scrapped tankers and connected by trestles and pipes is an expansive ghost city in the Caspian Sea. Located off the coast of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Neft Dashlari, or Oily Rocks, is one of the strangest urban areas on the planet. A ramshackle yet industriously constructed network of oil drilling facilities, stores, and apartment buildings stands bizarrely perched throughout the settlement. Neft Dashlari gained the amenities of an entire town including stores, educational facilities, and homes, plus libraries and service centers. Dormitories with five stories and hotels were among the grander structures built.

The community was literally built on top of overturned ships, which serve as building foundations. The site holds the Guinness World Record for being the first ever offshore oil platform. Neft Dashlari is now largely abandoned, with only some settlement remaining. A dark episode in the history of Neft Dashlari was the perhaps less than surprising, with the disappearance of three workers following the collapse of living accommodations into the Caspian Sea.

5. The Boat City of Aberdeen Harbour

Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, has a complicated cultural history. Aberdeen Harbour exists in stark contrast to the towering and densely clustered skyscrapers for which Hong Kong is famous. Here in the harbor, there are large congregations of boats on which dwellers live and work. Restaurants are included in the amenities offered by the “boat city,” adding significantly to the tapestry of the village as a unique attraction.

Despite some viewing the floating neighborhood as a visual disturbance, the boat city is gaining an established place in Hong Kong’s culture. Movie depictions of Hong Kong make good use of the boat city for both panoramic views and as the setting for great action scenes. In historic times, the pirate life of the boat city was colorful, to say the least.

4. Ko Panyi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwSsOpOni7s

The image is incredible. One of Thailand’s most fascinating sights is the aerial view of Ko Panyi. With multi-colored roofs, the buildings of the village on stilts extend outward in a rough question mark shape around the base of a precipitous stony island, formed from a single mini-mountain that rises from Phang Nga Bay. Ko Panyi is in southern Thailand’s Phang Nga Province on the Malay Peninsula, between the Thai border with Myanmar to the north and Malaysia to the south.

A testament to the resourcefulness of its founders, Ko Panyi was established by Toh Baboo, friends and family who were Muslim ocean travelers who arrived around 200 years back but were unable to settle on land as foreigners upon arrival in Thailand. Today, the 300 families numbering almost 1,500 individuals live in the village that clusters around the rock. Dwellings, restaurants, a mosque, and even a floating football pitch are among the features of the village.

3. Fadiouth, Senegal

In the African nation of Senegal, a section of coastline known as Petite Côte is a village of fishers that is divided between a land-based section of settlement, Joal, and a much stranger island portion of the village, Fadiouth. Joal-Fadiouth’s two sections are connected via a wooden footbridge, 1,312 feet in length. Fadiouth is bizarre because it is on an entirely human-made island, and that island is made from discarded yet rather precisely placed seashells.

Over the last century (and more), villagers have been toiling at a two-fold project. On one hand, they have been harvesting marine mollusks for food, and on the other, casting the shells aside. This has created the huge midden that grew into the island supporting Fadiouth. Fastened by mangrove roots and other coastal wetland plants, the shell island resists the tides. The theme everywhere is shells. The famous cemetery is made of shells, while streets and buildings sport shells. The population is Christian and Muslim and is known for its close community held together by residential embrace of religious diversity.

2. Halong Bay Floating Villages

Vietnam is home to a spectacular floating village group that has achieved world recognition for its cultural and architectural uniqueness. Amongst pillar-like mountains that emerge from the waters of Halong Bay are four floating villages comprised of multiple buildings on rafts that form a fishing community. The four villages in Halong Bay contain 1,000 villagers and are named Cua Van, Ba Hang, Vong Vieng, and Cong Tau.

Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the villages provide a base for fishing lobster, shellfish, finned fish, and squid. Larger vessels resemble land-based houses in their design, while smaller boats are moored to the dwelling boats, which can themselves move around or anchor to neighboring dwellings to allow convenient forays through the bay. The largest village, Cau Van, hosts the Floating Cultural Center, which seeks to preserve the villages under the auspices of the Ha Long Ecological Museum.

1. Urban Rigger

A floating apartment is a novel concept and even more-so when the apartment complex is made of upcycled structures. The Urban Rigger project in Copenhagen, Denmark is just such a remarkable development, with 72 studio apartments for students fashioned from shipping containers. Floating by the shoreline in the Copenhagen neighborhood of Refshaleoen, the project was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group after being first dreamt up by original founder Kim Loudrup, who encountered great challenges in finding his son student housing in Denmark.

Students appreciate the sustainable, livable design of the mini community on the water, the first residents having arrived in 2018. The shipping containers that make up the apartments focus on making the best use of natural light and are fitted with their own bathrooms and kitchens, while common areas include gardens, a gym, and laundry facilities. Residents can go for a swim right from their doorstep.