Thanks Acolyte, I keep a weather eye out for references to the "organism" or things connected with it. Considering our general ignorance of the deepest parts of the ocean, I'd be surprised if something wasn't lurking way down there that was perfectly at home in a high-pressure dark environment.

The "bloop" sound and speculation about the "deep hot biosphere" may be part of it too.

The wording of the New Scientist article is a bit puzzling. Calling the new discovery part of the "dark matter" of biology implies that we don't know around 99% of the life on this Earth. Do they really think the largest branch of the "tree of life" is almost unknown to us? And where has it been hiding all this time?