This beautiful vase-like structure is the skeleton of a single-celled organism called a radiolarian. Radiolarians live in large quantities as part of the ocean's plankton. When the
radiolarian dies, it's shell sinks to the bottom. After millions of years of radiolarian shells "raining down" on the sea floor, they accumulate in great quantities. Much of the sea floor of
the deep oceans are covered in this radiolarian "ooze".