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Researchers in 2004 sent an ROV to the seabed floor in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and found mysterious holes in the soft sediment (not fossilized) at a depth of ~2000m. Clearly made by a living creature but no one has yet identified it – any ideas?

Full article at: ScienceNorway.no 21mar23

The Great Barrier Reef gets most of the attention when it comes to the impact of climate change on reef health but the Great Southern Reef is in bigger trouble.

The Great Southern Reef is really a massive series of reefs that extend around Australia’s southern coastline, covering around 71,000 square kilometres from New South Wales around the southern coastline of Australia to Kalbarri in Western Australia. These reefs are home to some of the most productive kelp ecosystems on the planet, supporting sponges, crustaceans, fish, echinoderms (i.e. starfish and sea urchins) and many types of molluscs.

And these temperate reefs are suffering even more from heatwaves than the Great Barrier Reef!

Cool-temperate species inhabiting the Great Southern Reef are generally declining in number more rapidly and are more threatened with extinction, than tropical species. Most species on these temperate reefs are found nowhere else in the world (70% of the temperate species surveyed were endemic to Australia). Furthermore, temperate Australian species often have no close relatives. Examples include the red velvet fish (Gnathanacanthus goetzii) and the giant creeper snail (Campanile symbolicum). Both species sit alone in their families, and were found in researchers’ census to have rapidly declining populations.

Full article at: The Conversation 23march23

Debris from OceanGate‘s lost submersible, Titan, has been retrieved after a fatal implosion during its voyage to the wreck of the Titanic. The days-long rescue mission captured the world’s attention last week.

“Horizon Arctic, a Canadian ship, carried a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, [owned by Pelagic Research Services] to search the ocean floor near the Titanic wreck for pieces of the submersible.”

Full article at: PBS.org 28jun23

This wonderful creature was spotted on World Ocean Day 08jun23 – a beautiful orange Dumbo Octopus at 1400 meters (~4600 feet)! This footage was recorded in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, by scientists on board E/V Nautilus

Scottish company Tritonia Scientific is researching a new seabed monitoring method called georeferenced photogrammetry for use by the aquaculture industry. The research will be based on using cost-effective, observation class ROVs integrated with modified, through-water, acoustic tracking devices and stereo-cameras on the ROVs.

Full article at: FishFarmerMagazine 16may23