A piece of branching coral with a small pink fish swimming nearby over a rocky ocean floor.
Aplacophoran
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2025 Beyond the Blue. Download larger version (jpg, 1.25 MB).
This black coral (Stauropathes) covered an unusual individual that shoreside and shipboard scientists had difficulty identifying from the video. The organism was collected and upon recovery, tentatively identified as a large aplacophoran (shell-less mollusk), covered in spicules that give it a “fuzzy” appearance. It was collected during Dive 16 of the Papahānaumokuākea ROV and Mapping expedition at a depth of 1,879 meters (6,165 feet).