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Seahorse at Balmoral

Sea horses are surprisingly good at camouflaging themselves and are often hard to spot at first. We saw this one on the net of the Balmoral pool in Sydney:

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Remove fishing line from T200

We occasionally find fishing line wrapped around a thruster after a dive. Here are a few quick steps to removing it so you don’t burn out a motor.
If you need to access thrusters 1, 2, 3, or 4, start by removing the fairing covering the mounting bolts. Thrusters 5 and 6 can be accessed without this step.
Remove the four stainless hex bolts holding the thruster to the ROV frame.
Remove the four stainless screws holding the thruster nozzle. If the fishing line doesn’t come away easily at this point, continue disassembling.
Remove the two hex bolts holding the thruster nose cone in place.
Carefully turn the propeller until you see the grub screw holding the propeller and shaft to the motor. Loosen the grub screw with small hex wrench.
Gently pull the propeller shaft assembly away from the motor windings. You will feel resistance from the magnets
Gently unwind the fishing line from around the motor shaft.

Reassemble your T200 and ROV by following these steps in reverse.

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Swimming anemone?

We didn’t know that some anemones can swim! Check out this anemone avoiding a predatory leather star:

Filmed at Sund Rock, Hood Canal, Washington USA. Credit Mike Waymire
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Octopus Balloon?

This video was captured by the Hercules ROV at a depth of ~2000m while scientists were exploring Southwest Baker Island in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. AMAZING!

This octopus is believed to belong to the Cirroteuthidae family of cirrate octopuses (different from the Dumbo octopus), and lives in ocean depths where light does not penetrate the cold waters.