The deepest confirmed fish sighting is of a snailfish filmed at a depth of 8,336 meters (27,000 feet) below the ocean surface. Other fish may live at similar depths, but it’s likely that no fish lives ...

The trackline and area of operations for the 2026 Pacific Islands Mapping expedition (EX2604). The inset depicts a close-up of the area around Jarvis Island where extensive bathymetric mapping data ...

“Headless chicken monster” is a common name for deep ocean sea cucumbers in the genus Enypniastes. Their flowing movements have also earned them the more elegant nickname “Spanish dancers.” The ocean ...

Photosynthesis and chemosynthesis are both processes by which organisms produce food; photosynthesis is powered by sunlight while chemosynthesis runs on chemical energy. Ecosystems depend upon the ...

Increase mapping coverage of deepwater regions of American Samoa and the south and central Pacific Ocean. Beginning on September 24, NOAA Ocean Exploration will spend several days mapping unexplored ...

Marine snow is mostly biological debris that originates from the top layers of the ocean and drifts to the seafloor, providing a primary source of energy for animals in the deep ocean. Marine snow ...

Not all corals live in warm water – in fact, over half of all known coral species are found in cold, deep, and dark waters. When most people think about corals, they usually imagine a sunny tropical ...

On the final day of the 2026 Mapping Shakedown expedition, the expedition team retrieved the remotely operated vehicles (ROV) from the University of Hawai‘i Marine Center in Honolulu Harbor, where ...

Develop state-of-the-art machine learning methods for detection of shipwreck sites from multibeam sonar data collected from surface vessels ...

Covering approximately 70% of Earth’s surface, the ocean is the dominant feature on our planet. Yet, what lies at depth, well beneath the ocean’s glimmering surface, remains largely a mystery. Less ...

From this video, which shows the beautiful characteristic spiral of Iridogorgia corals, it’s not hard to see why these corals are sometimes likened to fireworks. This genus of deep-sea corals is in ...

During Dive 02 of the 2026 American Samoa ROV + Mapping Exploration expedition, the team encountered a variety of marine life, including a crinoid, a white flatworm, and a dandelion siphonophore. The ...