During Dive 04 ROV Deep Discoverer documented this USO- Unidentified Swimming Organism.

During Dive 04 ROV Deep Discoverer documented this USO- Unidentified Swimming Organism. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2015 Hohonu Moana. Download larger version (jpg, 171 KB).

Leg 4 Dive 04: Southeast Johnston
September 17, 2015
16.66416 N, 169.35050 W
Access Dive Summary and ROV Data

Today started with an early morning supply transfer to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists that work at the Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. While the ship was in calm waters, we took advantage of the opportunity to make some adjustments to the satellite dish to hopefully improve connectivity. Unfortunately, we may struggle with this throughout the rest of the cruise. Dive 04 was conducted on the southeast side of Johnston Atoll, along a ridge that led up to a plateau feature. The dive started at 1,450 meters over a rippled seafloor with a swimming amphipod, seapen, halosaur, and eels. As D2 transited upslope, we documented several species of sponges, sea pens, octocorals with squat lobster associates, crinoids, anemones, halosaurs, eels, a toungefish, a chimera, and a predatory tunicate with a polychaete associate. Samples collected today included a unknown sponge species (1,317 meters) and a rock sample (1,272 meters).