This comic at xkcd captures the seamount story pretty nicely. More than 100,000 large (really big, > 1 km) seamounts are uncharted and unexplored, according to recent estimates based on ship soundings and satellite altimetry data. Up to 25 million small mounds (> 100 m) may be out there, too...
See the full article by Wessel, Sandwell, and Kim (2010) in Oceanography's special online volume "Mountains in the Sea."
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