Much like the Hawaiian islands, seamounts, or underwater islands, form over hotspots in the earth's crust. Lava erupts through cracks and over thousands of years builds to a rocky underwater mountain perfect for corals, sponges, and sea anemones to colonize. Many of these stationary inhabitants rely on ocean currents flowing over the seamount to provide the nutrients they need to live. These same currents carry reproductive components and larvae to new spots, assuring continuation of the species that are often endemic, or specific only to the area where they are found. Fish hide, rest, and reproduce among the corals and sponges, and larger fish come to feed on them. Seamounts, like the substantial chain found off the Massachusetts coast, consequently provide a unique habitat in the vast depths of the ocean.