Riding High! During the #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition, ROV pilots captured footage of a tiny animal, likely a crustacean, riding a jellyfish like a surfboard. Jellyfish = protection w/their stinging tentacles & access to food while traveling & “shooting the curl” (as surfers would say).

Our first #OBVI #LivingBioreactors expedition video is out! Discover how the science team is studying the gut microbiomes of vertically migrating animals and how these microbiomes affect carbon storage in the deep sea, with support from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmej...

Skeleton shrimp: superior snackers This amphipod in the family Caprellidae, has feather-like setae line several of their 18 appendages for collecting food — amphipod translates to “feet on all sides” in Greek. #argentiniandeepseeps ~1200 meters

A fishy escape fr #ArgentinianDeepSeeps "The question, O me! so sad, recurring — What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here — that life exists, and identity; That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse." - Walt Whitman

Sampling among the stars! During the #Taleof2Canyons expedition, curious fish nibbled on sediments as ROV SuBastian pilots collected push core samples from a seafloor lined with brittle stars.

Animals as Living Bioreactors expedition is underway! W/ @schmidtsciences.bsky.social, scientists are eager to learn more about the role of midwater animals, like this gossamer worm, in carbon transport. Read more & subscribe to our YouTube for ROV dive updates here: youtube.com/post/Ugkx_Vw...

Multiple Choice Monday Why is this tiny fish not the octopus’s next tasty snack? a. This tiny fish tastes funny. b. Sleepy cephalopod, will eat later. c. Sated cephalopod, still digesting last tasty fish. d. Write in answers: correct & incorrect ones will be enjoyed equally.

Thanks to the dedicated and tireless work of our crew on board R/V Falkor (too) supporting a worldwide array of researchers and scientists — we’re working daily to boldly explore our unknown ocean, every day! #OceanExplorationDay Read more: www.linkedin.com/posts/schmid...

Two skate passing in the dark. Between 200 and 145 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, these cartilaginous fish emerged — part of the class Chondrichthyes, which also includes sharks, stingrays, and chimaeras. ROV pilots filmed these at skate 432 meters during #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

Our final expedition video for #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition is out. During this successful bubble-hunting expedition, scientists not only found the bubbles but also myriad animals associated w/seeps: everything from giant coral reefs to gardens of sea pens. youtu.be/09uSPqhm58I?...

Float like a glass squid. What might it feel like to reach a state where your body’s density perfectly matches your surroundings? Their buoyant bodies are filled with ammonium chloride, which is lighter than seawater, helping them to conserve energy while traveling. 1,729 m #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

Threats to funding and freedom in art and science belie the deep connections between the two seemingly disparate disciplines, and their combined power to address our most pressing problems. Read my op-ed: www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/14/a... @schmidtocean.bsky.social @schmidtsciences.bsky.social

A bustling seafloor scene from the #taleof2canyons expedition: “We studied how these canyons can facilitate such incredible biodiversity,” said Chief Scientist Dr. Silvia Ines Romero. “What are the mechanisms — the currents and the chemistry — that support all of this life?”

In 2026, we'll journey across the SW Atlantic Ocean. Fr deep waters off Brazil to seamounts in the Mid-Atlantic, we'll help document biodiversity, study physical, chemical, geological phenomena & map seafloor features. schmidtocean.org/cruises/schm...

The #ArgentinianDeepSeeps team completed 1st comprehensive study of Argentina’s cold seeps. Their goal: to understand how the animal communities live and interact with localized physical, geological, and chemical conditions as well as with surrounding deep-sea ecosystems. youtu.be/KvJewhMvrIQ?...

Take a slow ride . . . by snail! Read the full post about this example of mutualistic symbiosis and the #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition here: www.instagram.com/reel/DTTbCSp...

Sea squirts & squid! ROV pilots filmed these salps and spectacular squid during the #SouthSandwichIslands expedition with @oceancensus.bsky.social in early 2025. Salps, also known as sea squirts, are ubiquitous throughout the Ocean, and abundant in the Southern Ocean.

Benthic ctenophores clinging to tunicates attached to a submarine canyon wall ~1.75 miles deep, during #ArgentinianDeepSeeps. Platyctenida have colloblasts, or sticky cells that release a mucus-like glue when they unspool extra-long tentacles into the water column and fish for their next meal.

Anyone else feeling tired today? This fish, likely a deep-sea sole — a species of flatfish in the family Pleuronectidae, likes lazing about along muddy bottoms. ROV pilots filmed while exploring a pockmark, or crater, along the seafloor at 460m. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

ROV pilots filmed this giant phantom jelly, or Stygiomedusa gigantea, at 253 meters during an ROV descent to explore the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon wall. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

Let your party streamers fly like a ctenophore! As the year draws to an end, we’re celebrating a year of supporting international teams of scientists on board R/V Falkor (too) off the coasts of Antarctica, the South Sandwich Islands, Argentina, & Uruguay. Happy New Year to all!

Freckled catshark, Scyliorhinus haeckelii, is a common species of shark in Uruguayan waters, according to Dr. David Ebert. He suspects the fish were interested in a parasite dangling off the catshark. Filmed at 227m during #UruguaySUB200

We are grieving the loss of Kristina Gjerde, who passed away yesterday, 26 December 2025, of cancer. She was a lawyer — graceful, thoughtful, and elegantly articulate — who championed the Ocean, particularly the deep sea. Read our full statement here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Our #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition video is out — learn about bubble hunting off the coast of Argentina! youtu.be/_1_q7O7kGAE?...

Like a tiny heart beating in time, this deep-sea jellyfish — Periphylla — pulses through the Ocean’s midwater. ROV pilots filmed this luminescent beauty at 920m along Argentina’s continental shelf, off the coast of Buenos Aires #ArgentinianDeepSeeps Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

An unexpected feast! ROV pilots filmed this during the #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition. Read the full caption about whalefalls & their role in the deep Ocean on Insta: www.instagram.com/reel/DSlQw1J...

Season's greetings! We were inspired by the children from S. America who celebrated Divestreams w/creativity & enthusiasm. Use ROV SuBastian explore the gifts on this imaginary seafloor, recreated in a child’s room. Explore the interactive card here: 2025.schmidtocean.co

During Dive 878, the #ArgentinianDeepSeeps science team studied & sampled an active pockmark on the seafloor, where liquids & gases were escaping. Their goal: the first & most comprehensive exploration of cold seeps, one of the least-studied deep-ocean ecosystems in SW Atlantic.

ROV pilots filmed this smooth swimming salp at 324m during #AsgardArchaea expedition off the coast of Uruguay. Credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Sliding into the weekend like this slender fish! Seen during the #AsgardArchaea expedition, ROV pilots captured this footage at 2,180 m. The international team of scientists collected sediment & water samples in their search for the origins of eukaryotic and complex cells.

The #AsgardArchaea team observed breathtaking wildlife in Uruguayan waters via the cameras on the Schmidt Ocean Institute's deep-sea robot — ROV SuBastian. https://youtu.be/uM0wKYb1kus

In January 2025, R/V Falkor (too) carried the #AntarcticClimateConnections expedition team through the famed Drake Passage, into the Bellingshausen Sea. Here's a link to our recently released short film, "Crossing the Divide:" https://youtu.be/C4e3GZkGwxk?si=wccBT82dgY46Y-de

That’s a wrap for #AsgardArchaea expedition, w/ @archaeal.bsky.social fr @texasscience.bsky.social! In the coming months and years, this research will likely open the door to new medical breakthroughs and unlock answers to questions about the origins of complex life. youtu.be/mgmEh_qag5E?...

We wish you a happy Antarctica Day! The #AntarcticClimateConnections team was moved by the experience of crossing the divide — not just between countries & continents, but between the known & the unknown in Antarctica. Watch our short film, Crossing the Divide: youtu.be/C4e3GZkGwxk?...

Spectacular strawberry squid! Histioteuthis squid w/massively asymmetrical eyes: 1 larger for viewing the silhouettes of predators & prey above, & 1 smaller eye for capturing glimmers of bioluminescent snacks below. #AsgardArchea - 730m - ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Our latest expedition update video is live on YouTube. Learn how the #AsgardArchaea science team is looking for our microbial ancestors to understand the biological events that led to the broad diversity of complex cellular life. youtu.be/Jy_boPdY0zo?...

This fluttery finned fish, possibly from the family Oreosomatidae, was spotted during #AsgardArchaea at around 1000 m. Read more about this expedition led by @archaeal.bsky.social from @texasscience.bsky.social#AsgardArchaeahere: https://schmidtocean.org/cruise/searching-for-the-asgard/

#AsgardArchaea team, led by @archaeal.bsky.social fr @texasscience.bsky.social — sequencing the DNA collected fr mouth of Rio de la Plata to the continental shelf of Uruguay to detect Asgards, a group of single-celled organisms & our closest microbial relatives on the tree of life. bit.ly/3MdniTH

Stormy waters have cleared. Winds and light. Currents moderate. Live streaming from 850m. Collecting push cores.

Following a 2021 expedition on R/V Falkor, scientists share findings connected to the toxic legacy of once-legal ocean dumping off the coast of Southern California. Register & join us: https://schmidtocean-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bGCuKTmDSrGydYHaoYFbuw#/registration

Map of seafloor where we are diving to sample sediments today. #AsgardArchaea @schmidtocean.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @texasscience.bsky.social @utmsi.bsky.social

Life on the Falkor (too) is lovely. #AsgardArchaea @schmidtocean.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @texasscience.bsky.social @utmsi.bsky.social

Skating into the weekend . . . like a cartilaginous fish! Related to sharks w/wings for hovering & flying over the seafloor & a long, whiplike tail for steering. We see them during ROV dives, burrowed into the sediment, utterly still until they can ambush their next meal. 235m #Taleof2Canyons

This is a sea cucumber eating. This #Taleof2Canyons mealtime footage, collected by ROV pilots at a depth of 142m, offers a perfect illustration of suspension feeding (sped up 5x). The sea cucumber stretches feathery tentacles up into the current to capture their meal.

Monday mayhem! We've never seen a scallop crash into an anemone riding a snail through a seafloor field of brittle stars either — but hey, you explore to see something new, right?! ROV footage from #Ecosde2Cañones expedition along the Patagonian shelf break.

During a 2021 expedition, scientists explored an offshore dumpsite, where barrels of toxic byproducts of the insecticide DDT were dumped between 1947 & 1972. Join us for a discussion w/ expedition scientists. Register now: https://schmidtocean-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bGCuKTmDSrGydYHaoYFbuw

On 21 Nov. 2025, join us for a @schmidtocean.bsky.social Back Ashore webinar w/ Johanna Gutleben, Paul Jensen & Lihini Aluwihare from @scrippsocean.bsky.social, who will share findings from the 2021 #BiodiverseBorderlands expedition. Register now: schmidtocean-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#Ecosde2Cañones sea life & fish w/antifreeze proteins! “It was wonderful to see the notothenioid fish curiously approach the ROV camera, reminding us that every encounter with marine life is deeply connected to the physical dynamics shaping their environment.” - Chief Scientist Dr. Silvia Romero

30 previously unknown deep-sea species, including a carnivorous “death-ball” sponge, have been confirmed from one of the most remote parts of the planet by The Nippon Foundation–Nekton @oceancensus.bsky.social and collaborators. ecomagazine.com/news/researc... 🦑 🌊

A swingin’ seafloor hotspot! 🎶 This #Ecosde2Cañones footage fr the Patagonian shelf break is an excellent example of collective foraging behavior. Fish & other creatures navigate deep-sea currents to access an area rich w/nutrients — these vital energy hubs at the interface of shelf & open Ocean.