Remote Underwater Exploration
Schmidt Ocean Institute is currently live-streaming off the coast of Argentina until the 10th of August. So far, viewers have been enthralled with specimens near the city of Mar del Plata that resemble characters from SpongeBob SquarePants:
Live streams from this expedition can be seen on the Schimdt Ocean Youtube channel
The Government of Japan and the UNODC Maritime Crime Programme helped provide the Fiji Police Force with a BlueROV2 remotely operated vehicle to fight maritime crime.
Full article at: FBC News 30apr25
Scientists aboard the research ship Falkor (too) were piloting the ROV at a depth of about 2,000 feet off the South Sandwish Islands when it encountered an elusive squid. The team, and later by several independent experts, identified the squid as a baby colossal squid Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), a mysterious deep-sea predator that had never been seen alive in its natural habitat.
Read more at: Miami Herald 15apr25
Schmidt Ocean Institute researchers had two sightings of a glass octopus (Vitreledonella richardi) near the Phoenix Islands. These transparent cephalopods have very few visible features so are almost invisible in the deep ocean:
Full article at: GreenMatters 15mar25
Scientists from UiT Arctic University of Norway first discovered the Borealis Mud Volcano in 2023 at a depth of 400m (1,300 feet) and have been using ROV Aurora to collect video and samples of gas and sediment from the craters.
ROV Aurora imagery shows anemones, serpudils (tube-worms), hydroids, nudibranchs and octocorals living on the carbonate crusts around the craters, as well as schools of fish like spotted wolffish, redfish and saithe around the carbonate formations.
Full article at: Mongabay.com Feb 2025
