What a year it’s been — from the strange, headline-grabbing U.S. presidential election to the celebrities we lost and mourned, there were a lot of news stories that captured our attention. But because we’re a scuba diving magazine, we’ll ignore politics and Hollywood and take a look back at the bizarre discoveries in the ocean and the marine-conservation news that rocked our world.

Stranger than Science

What's bright purple and looks like a blobby glow stick? Scientists were puzzled, as was captured in a video recording as their ROV Hercules zoomed in closer to have a look. Hercules filmed the adorable purple creature while scanning the seafloor at a depth of 2,950 feet off the coast of California’s Channel Islands. In the video, you can hear scientists aboard the E/V Nautilus expressing wonderment.

“I’m stumped, I have no idea — I couldn’t even hazard a guess,” one researcher said.

Scientists now think the purple orb is a pleurobranch, a nudibranch relative.

Purple Is the New Black

As it turns out, the shining orb is not the only discovery made by the Nautilus scientists. They also found a purple creature with cartoonishly wide eyes.

The amused scientists excitedly discussed its googly eyes while Hercules moved in to examine it. “They look like they’re painted on,” one of the researchers says in the video (see below for the link). “It looks so fake,” laughs another. “It’s like some little kid dropped their toy.”

Though the team puzzled over the cute cephalopod’s identity with guesses of octopus, squid and “cuddle-fish,” it has now been identified as a stubby squid (Rossia pacifica). The stubby squid is a type of bobtail squid, which is actually most closely related to the cuttlefish.

Watch the video.

America the Beautiful

Around the world, conservationists continued their work to protect our oceans. In August 2016, President Barack Obama announced the expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, creating the world’s largest protected marine area. Papahānaumokuākea was designated a Marine National Monument by President George W. Bush in 2006. This area encompassed about 140,000 square miles of remote islands and atolls of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. At the time it was the largest marine protected area on the planet. Having now quadrupled in size to more than 580,000 square miles, it regained the title, at least for a short while.

“As ocean acidification, warming, and other impacts of climate change threaten marine ecosystems, expanding the monument will improve ocean resilience, help the region’s distinct physical and biological resources adapt, and create a new natural laboratory that will allow scientists to monitor and explore the impacts of climate change on these fragile ecosystems,” said White House officials in a statement.

This Aloha State marine park of coral reefs and seamounts is home to over 7,000 marine species — one of which was named after the 44nd president, to honor the president’s commitment to protecting wildlife and wild places in the United States.

In the Atlantic Ocean, President Obama also designated the National Marine Monument located off the coast of Massachusetts.

Read about the best scuba diving in Hawaii Island.

Is It a Little Warm In Here?

OK, we said we'd stay away from politics, but this initiative is too important not to mention. When the Paris climate agreement officially went into effect in 2016, environmentalists around the globe gave a huge cheer. Ninety-six countries signed on to support the reduction of greenhouse gasses emissions. In addition, the Smithsonian Institution announced it will host the first-ever global Earth Optimism Summit over the 2017 Earth Day weekend in Washington, D.C. We remain optimistic.

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere

This news continues to be depressing, but there were some bright spots. In late 2016, California upheld a landmark plastic-bag ban. Hawaii has a similar plastic-bag ban. Other states have enacted taxes on plastic bags as part of waste-reduction legislation.

Did you know about 70% of marine debris ends up on the sea floor? Read about the International Coastal Cleanup.

Join Project AWARE and take your Dive Against Debris to the next level. Learn about its Adopt a Site program.

The Even Greater Great Barrier Reef?

There are always new things to find in the ocean, as scientists discovered when they found an entirely new reef “hiding” underneath the Great Barrier Reef. Though they’ve known about the reef structures for decades, researchers used remote sensing technology to map the region in an attempt to learn more about them. Built up from limestone formed by a type of green algae called Halimeda, the rounded limestone structures will be the focus of studies to determine how the two reefs and their marine-life residents interact.

View seven sites to dive on the Great Barrier Reef.

Discover Australia's other great barrier reef, the Prom.