2. Multimedia
  3. Image of the Day
  4. September 22, 2021

September 22, 2021: USO – Unidentified Swimming Organism

This USO (unidentified swimming organism!) was imaged during the fourth leg of the 2015 Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deep Waters off Hawaiʻi expedition while exploring a ridge extending south of one of the plateaus of the Karin Ridge, located 75 miles east of Johnston Atoll.

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana. Download larger version (jpg, 696 KB).

This USO (unidentified swimming organism!) was imaged during the fourth leg of the 2015 Hohonu Moana: Exploring Deep Waters off Hawaiʻi expedition while exploring a ridge extending south of one of the plateaus of the Karin Ridge, located 75 miles east of Johnston Atoll. While the science team at the time was stumped as to what this organism could be, it was later identified as a worm in the phylum Nemertea, with brooded embryos.