Image Archive

A translucent sea cucumber crawling past some brittle stars (ophiuroids) at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

A Brown Catshark swimming near the seafloor at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

A Brown Catshark swimming above orange bacterial mats near Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

A hagfish burrowing into the sediment near Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

A bubblegum coral (Paragorgia arborea) seen at Pinnacle, west of the main seep sites at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

A Beroe ctenophore (comb jelly) seen at Pinnacle, near Southern Hydrate Ridge. Soft corals attached to authigenic carbonate outcrops can be seen in the background. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

Brown anemones are thriving in a diffuse flow site in teh ASHE hydrothermal field. The site also hosts thick microbial mats, filamentous bacteria, tubeworms and limpets. Credti: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; V22.

This squished-looking Flapjack octopus (Opisthoteuthis sp.) was seen at Southern Hydrate Ridge during a site survey in 2022. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, ROPOS Dive R2228, V22.

This rosy Tritonia tetraquetra nudibranch was seen sitting on a marker at the Pinnacle, west of Southern Hydrate Ridge. It was near some soft corals, some of which were missing polyps, and had clearly been grazed on by this sea pen and soft coral specialist predator! Photo credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, Dive R2228, V22.

Bathydoris aioca, an unusually large (~30 cm) deep-sea nudibranch, was part of a unique community of invertebrates gathered around the anchor of the Slope Base profiler mooring in 2900 meters (~9500 feet) of water, also including flytrap anemones, galatheid crabs, and sea cucumbers. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF, Dive R2258, V22

Unidentified deep-sea nudibranchs found on equipment at approximately 1267 m during a dive at Central Axial Caldera. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive J2-1375; V21.

A Fathead Sculpin (Psychrolutes phrictus), also known as a blob sculpin, resting on the seafloor during a dive to the International District. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/UW/WHOI; Dive J2-1381; V21.

This rattail fish (Coryphaenoides acrolepis), seen amidst the vents in the International District at 1518 m, was incredibly curious about the equipment that Jason was working with. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; Dive J2-1380; V21.

An unidentified, swimming sea cucumber seen at approximately 1274 m on a ROPOS dive to the Central Axial Caldera. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive J2-1376; V21.

An unidentified sea star (possibly Henricia sp.) near one of the vents during a dive to the International District. It remained next to the chimney, despite the heat exuded by the vent plume. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive J2-1381; V21.

A deep-sea crab from the family Lithodidae seen at International District. Photo credit: NSF-OOI/UW/CSSF; Dive J2-1378; V21.

This blue shark was the highlight of the Slope Base Deep Profiler dive as he moved around the ROV Jason. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; Dive J2-1367; V21.

A brown catshark (Apristurus brunneus) at Southern Hydrate Ridge, seen during a site survey during VISIONS'22. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF, ROPOS Dive R2224, V22.

An aggressive blue shark approaches the ROV ROPOS at the Oregon Offfshore Site. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/CSSF; ROPOS Dive R2231, V22.

This blue shark was the highlight of the Deep Profiler Dive at Slope as it moved in an out from in front of the ROV’s camera.Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; Dive J2-1367; V21.

Beautiful chains of salps swim around the top of the Shallow Profiler Mooring at Axial Base. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V21.

A swarm of beautiful salp aggregates swim around the Shallow Profiler Mooring at Axial Base at a water depth of ~ 600 ft. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V21.

Purple hagfish, speckled sole, red rockfish, starfishn and crabs thrive at Southern Hydrate Ridge with diverse substrates to call home. Credit: UW/OOI-NSF/WHOI. V20.

The 12 ft across platform on the Slope Base Shallow Profiler mooring is home to a variety of fauna, thriving in the nutrient-rich currents. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI; V20.

A rockfish hangs out with soft corals at the carbonate Pinnacle deposit at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20.

Beautiful soft corals are ubiquitous on carbonate deposits that form the Pinnacle at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20.

A sole lounges on the sedimented seafloor at Southern Hydrate Ridge. Credit: UW/NSF-OOI/WHOI. V20