@schmidtocean: A hitchhiker’s guide to the deep. Tiny, immobile creatures like barnacles can get a leg-up on competition by hitching a ride into the water current where there’s marine snow aplenty. In the Ocean, when organic materials die or decompose, they sink to the deep, providing an essential food source for corals, sponges, and all the animals living where there is no sun to fuel food production. While a rocky outcrop will do, a mobile host might offer more opportunities for a feast. In this case, the vehicle of choice for tiny critters living a mile beneath the surface is a Lithodes crab, a genus of king crab found throughout the global ocean. ROV pilots filmed this seafloor scene in the Montevideo Canyon. The @uruguaysub200 team is using the technology available on R/V Falkor (too) to visit and sample numerous sites along the continental slope. The team is using ROV SuBastian for biology transects, animal and sediment collections, and water sampling. For more in-depth water analysis, they will measure light frequency and availability, turbidity, oxygen concentration, and dissolved carbon dioxide with the ship’s CTD & rosette. Using multibeam and acoustic doppler current profiler, the researchers will create high-resolution maps and measure the speed and direction of currents throughout the water column. Together, these tools will enable scientists to paint a comprehensive picture of the Uruguayan deep sea. Video credit: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

Schmidt Ocean 🌊

Open In TikTok:

Region: ES

Wednesday 10 September 2025 09:21:01 GMT