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Sample: Glass Sponge
Samples collected during remotely operated vehicle dives are documented with photographs and entered into the Sampling Operations User Portal (SOUP). This glass sponge (Dictyaulus sp.) was collected from a large crater at the top of a seamount — along with a fragment of the polymetallic encrusted volcanic rock it was attached to — during Dive 01 of the 2026 American Samoa ROV + Mapping Exploration expedition.