1/2 Science Spotlight ✨

Another reminder that life in the deep sea continues to push the boundaries of biology, revealing adaptations we are only just beginning to discover and understand.

📚 Read the study: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx2596

#sciencespotlight #deepseascience

✨ A collaboration that will reveal the hidden beauty of black corals ✨ 🎨 Cassidy Cat is a New England–born illustrator whose early years spent roaming the rural woods sparked a lasting love for the natural world. She earned her BS in Zoology and a minor in Studio Art from Oregon State University, followed by specialized training in the Science Illustration graduate program at CSUMB. Cat’s work blends scientific accuracy with visual storytelling to help make science accessible to broader audiences. 🔬 Jeremy Jeremy is a Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Communities Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution where he studies the taxonomy and evolutionary history of the coral order Antipatharia (black corals). 🤝 Together Black corals rarely get the detailed illustrations they deserve, especially when it comes to the tiny structures that matter for taxonomy. That’s why illustrator Cat and researcher Jeremy Horowitz are collaborating on a series that highlights these features in a new way. Guided by Horowitz’s expertise, Cat’s artwork will capture the spines, polyps, and branching patterns that define this deep-sea coral group, creating visuals that can support both scientific understanding and public appreciation.

🌊Meet this awesome ArtSea Matchmaking duo 🌊

Guided by Jeremy’s expertise, Cat will create visuals that can support both scientific understanding and public
appreciation.

#sciart #artseamatchmaking #scientificillustration #deepsea #coralreef #deepseascience #marinebiodiversity #scicomm

🎨 Dexter is a deep-sea and polar benthic ecologist who’s studied larval dispersal around methane seeps and hydrothermal vents. He now SCUBA dives at methane seeps in Antarctica! Through scientific illustration, he brings fragile underwater habitats to life, raising awareness and inspiring protection for the species that call them home. 🧭 Maeva is a deep-sea biologist exploring molecular evolution and the partnerships between invertebrates and their symbiotic bacteria. She recently descended in a deep-sea submersible to a newly explored Western Pacific seamount and can’t wait to share the stunning communities they encountered.

🌊Meet Dexter Davis and Maeva Perez

Two incredible scientists turning deep-sea discovery into art.

Together, they’re creating a community poster celebrating the invertebrates of Western Pacific seamounts.

#ArtSeaMatchmaking #DeepSeaScience #MarineBiology #SciArt #OceanExploration #DeepSeaLife

Dominica’s volcanic vents release methane that fuels deep-sea bacterial communities. These microbes form the base of entire ecosystems that survive without sunlight, revealing how geology and biology interact in the Caribbean’s hidden underwater world.

#Dominica #DeepSeaScience #EPICCaribbeanTrivia

🎨 Laura Wöllner Laura is an artist based in Portsmouth, UK, she has a BA in Animation from the University of Portsmouth and she has a growing love for ceramics. Clay as a medium is so incredibly tactile and versatile; and exposing it to upwards of 1000°C in the kiln means you can never be 100% sure exactly how your creations will turn out. She is passionate about conservation, sustainability, and Earth’s weird and wonderful creatures, Laura champions the underdogs of the natural world: organisms far from the “charismatic megafauna,” yet no less beautiful and fascinating. With a special admiration for the deep sea, she believes its strange, complex, and hidden life deserves the spotlight - And that it’s worth protecting. 🐚💙 🔬 Dr. Emanuel Pereira Emanuel is a deep-sea researcher from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He’s working at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences at the University of Buenos Aires. His PhD thesis focused on the taxonomy, systematics, and biogeography of deep-sea isopod crustaceans. They are among the most bizarre animals and are commonly found in association with cold-water hard corals. He recently joined the renowned expedition “Underwater Oases of the Mar del Plata Canyon: Talud Continental IV” aboard the RV Falkor, further deepening his exploration of one of Earth’s least-known ecosystems. He is driven by a lifelong passion for marine biology and has been interested in crustaceans after knowing their diversity biology and ecology. Emanuel hopes to raise visibility for deep-sea fauna and demonstrating the importance of one of the least known habitats in the world. 🌍🦐

🤝 Together Together, Laura and Emanuel aim to reveal the deep sea not as bleak or lifeless, but as a bustling, vibrant community. Their collaboration centers on a multi-layered, three-dimensional ceramic ceramic sculpture of a coral, populated with a selection of the typical fauna that call these corals home — from permanent residents to fleeting visitors. By restoring form, color, and presence to species we rarely see alive, they hope to bring these hidden creatures closer to viewers and showcase the deep sea’s true beauty, complexity, and vitality. This photo shows their first ceramic artwork: A beautiful clay cup with a brittle star coiling around the cup and the ear. It has not been in the kiln yet, so it still has the natural gray color

The same cup from the last picture, but out of the kiln. The brittle star now has a beautiful reddish brown color

A detail from the same artwork, to show the beautiful texture of the brittle star. This photo also shows the wonderful colors on the coiling arms

🌊 Associate Fauna ✨

An ArtSea Matchmaking team where ceramics, curiosity, and deep-sea discovery come together.

#sciart #artandscience #artseamatchmaking #ceramicart #newceramics #deepsea #coralreef #deepseascience #marinebiodiversity #weirdandwonderful #scicomm #unseenworlds

New research led by @seaprinceaaron.bsky.social shows that 30 species of sharks, rays, and chimaeras are found in areas proposed for deep-sea mining, and nearly two-thirds are already threatened with extinction. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.09.019

#deepseascience #deepsea

Promotional image for Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and Schmidt Ocean Institute featuring a close-up of a snailfish with a vibrant orange, ruffled body, entitled 'Deep Sea Wonders'.

The snailfish is the deepest-living fish ever found, at over 8,000 m below the surface.

Soft, scaleless, and nearly transparent, it survives crushing pressure and freezing temperatures, proof that life can thrive even in the most extreme environments.

#DeepSeaWonders #DeepSeaScience

ANDR - Highlights from the Start of 2025 - Challenger 150 ANDR – Highlights from the Start of 2025 The African Network of Deep-water Researchers (ANDR) is building momentum as we move through 2025. Here we bring you highlights from recent events and training...

🌍 Curious what the C150 African Network of Deep-water Researchers (ANDR) has achieved in 2025 so far? From training to new collaborations, catch the highlights here:
🔗 challenger150.world/andr-highlig...

#Challenger150 #DeepSeaScience #CapacityBuilding #Africa

This photo is from our first-ever deployment back in 2013. Today, we begin the journey to deploy our next-gen system in support of IODP Expedition 501.

More updates soon from the ship.

#SCIMPI #OceanTech #BehindTheScenes #MarineEngineering #DeepSeaScience #seafloormonitoring

The drill rig on board the L/B Robert that will drill holes 350 meters below the seafloor to take samples and install SCIMPI for long term monitoring.

#SCIMPI #OceanTech #BehindTheScenes #MarineEngineering #DeepSeaScience #SeafloorMonitoring

The SCIMPI production space is all set up and ready for action.

#SCIMPI #OceanTech #BehindTheScenes #MarineEngineering #DeepSeaScience #seafloormonitoring

SCIMPI is a long-term sub-seafloor monitoring system that lowers the cost of marine hydrogeology research. By adapting to borehole findings and being installable while on station, it reduces ship time, return visits, and ROV use changing how we explore the deep.

#SCIMPI #OceanTech #DeepSeaScience

🧬 Deep-sea microbes just got way cooler! AI uncovers 5,241 hidden protein families transforming our understanding of ocean biochemistry. 🌊 Phosphorus cycling secrets revealed! #Genomics #DeepSeaScience #AIResearch https://emmecola.github.io/genomics-daily

Building Local Expertise: Training the Next Generation of Deep-Sea Scientists in Africa - Challenger 150 The BAIT project in Cabo Verde trained African scientists in low-cost deep-sea monitoring, laying the groundwork for long-term research and regional leadership.

Wrapping up the BAIT project 🎯
Our latest post reflects on its impact — from practical training in Cabo Verde to growing deep-sea research networks across Africa.
🌍🌊 Read more: challenger150.world/building-loc...
#Challenger150 #ANDR #DeepSeaScience

Evidence of dark oxygen production at the abyssal seafloor - Nature Geoscience Oxygen is generated abiotically at the abyssal seafloor in the presence of polymetallic nodules, potentially by seawater electrolysis, according to in situ chamber and ex situ incubation experiments.

Polymetallic nodules can generate oxygen in total darkness, no sunlight needed. As WAM explores oxygen dynamics along the West African margin, findings like this show how much we still don’t know about deep-sea systems.

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#WAMProject #DarkOxygen #DeepSeaScience

The Oldest Living Fish Discovered in the Pacific Ocean This tale from the ocean's depths is not just about any marine creature but potentially the oldest living fish ever encountered.

The #PacificOcean's oldest resident is finally getting the spotlight it deserves 🌊 #OceanDiscovery #MarineLongevity #DeepSeaScience #OldestFish #Qquatics #MarineBiology #OceanWonders #OceanMysteries #ConservationMatters #Qquatics #DeepSeaDiscovery

www.animalsaroundtheglobe.com/the-oldest-l...

On our last expedition to Antarctica, we found an abundance of Crinoids 1800 meters deep, also commonly known as Sea Lilies!

@uwaoceans.bsky.social
@kelpiegeo.bsky.social

#AntarcticResearch #DeepSeaScience

Vanessa on the deck of the vessel with DSV Alvin.

#URIGSO Ph.D. student Vanessa Jimenez joined a cruise exploring #hydrothermalvents at the Eastern Pacific Rise (9°50’N) using #DSVAlvin! With Lehigh's @jillmcdermott.bsky.social, she studied chemosymbiotic life—like Alvinellid & Tevnia worms—and vent geochemistry changes. 🔬🌊 🧪 🦑 #DeepSeaScience

Dive into this deep-sea mystery!🔎Scientists at
@miamirosenstiel.bsky.social found unknown, long, white siliceous filaments on a scalpellid and a sponge. These filaments are not part of the organisms! Can you help identify them? #MarineMystery #DeepSeaScience @univmiami.bsky.social

Record-breaking, ultra-high energy "ghost particle" found underwater Scientists detected a record-breaking, ultra-high-energy "ghost particle," neutrino named km3-230213a, with an underwater telescope.

Record-breaking, ultra-high energy “ghost particle” found underwater: Scientists detected a record-breaking, ultra-high-energy "ghost particle," neutrino named km3-230213a, with an underwater telescope.

#GhostParticle #Neutrinos #Astrophysics #DeepSeaScience #ScientificDiscovery #EarthDotCom #Earth

Record-breaking neutrino spotted deep in the Mediterranean sea Scientists detected an ultra-high-energy neutrino in the Mediterranean Sea using KM3NeT. This particle likely comes from space events.

Record-breaking neutrino spotted deep in the Mediterranean sea: Scientists detected an ultra-high-energy neutrino in the Mediterranean Sea using KM3NeT. This particle likely comes from space events.

#Neutrinos #Astrophysics #ParticlePhysics #DeepSeaScience #ScientificDiscovery #EarthDotCom #Earth

New study uncovers how #Anglerfish (Lophiiformes) adapted to thrive in the extreme depths of the #bathypelagiczone, revealing stunning diversity in these bioluminescent hunters. 🌌🐟 #DeepSeaScience #MarineBiology #MarineLife discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts...

Setting out into the #ArcticOcean! 🌊❄️ Ingvild and Morgane are two of the researchers aboard the RV Kronprins Haakon which just left Svalbard on a research cruise to the Arctic. Here they are getting temperature sensors ready. 🌡️🔬🚢 #ArcticResearch #deepseascience

“Hi Bluesky community! 👋🏼
New here and excited to connect. After years in academia, I’ve moved to consultancy as a Principal Consultant at Ocean Science Consulting Ltd. Still passionate about deep-sea science and marine ecosystems. Let’s dive into meaningful conversations! 🌊 #DeepSeaScience”

Hi Bluesky science community 👋 I'm new here after migrating from the app that shall not be named. I'm a PhD researcher in deep-sea ecotoxicology—interested in all the weird and wonderful things in the deep sea. Excited to connect, share insights, and learn from this community. #DeepSeaScience

🌊 MARUM's Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) explore oceans worldwide, uncovering unique habitats and fascinating marine life. Each dive reveals amazing deep-sea moments! Dive in with us ➡️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN6K...

🌐🤖 #DeepSeaScience #MarineScience #ROV #OceanDiscovery #Tauchen