Schmidt Ocean Institute

This is a Labichthys snipe eel.

Like many of the animals studied during the #OBVI #LivingBioreactors expedition w/ @schmidtsciences.bsky.social, Labichthys shelter in the depths & make a daily migration to feed near surface waters at night. Read full caption: youtube.com/shorts/zWjxE...

Follow us to Oceanology International! Schmidt Ocean Institute Executive Director Dr. Jyotika Virmani joins 160+ speakers for 50+ sessions designed to tackle the sector’s most pressing technical, environmental, and operational challenges. Learn more: https://invt.io/1lxb60g81nl

Working on image processing code in my new office on the Falkor too, while we transit to the next station. #LivingBioreactors @schmidtocean.bsky.social

“Like a firefly in the middle of a field
filled with noise,
its shining, latent light within,
a tiny bell, small and soundless.
I fade away so that you may lose yourself.
I fold myself into my wings.”

Poem by Pedro Serrano, trans. by Don Cellini.
Psychedelic jellyfish, #argentiniandeepseeps, 3804 m

Riding High!

During the #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition, ROV pilots captured footage of a tiny animal, likely a crustacean, riding a jellyfish like a surfboard. Jellyfish = protection w/their stinging tentacles & access to food while traveling & “shooting the curl” (as surfers would say).

YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Welcome to the Midwater! | Animals as Living Bioreactors PART 1

Our first #OBVI #LivingBioreactors expedition video is out! Discover how the science team is studying the gut microbiomes of vertically migrating animals and how these microbiomes affect carbon storage in the deep sea, with support from @schmidtsciences.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmej...

Update: Isopod, not amphipod

Isn't that the best? (tbh at least one of us may have never seen a scallop swimming until recently...!)

Skeleton shrimp: superior snackers

This amphipod in the family Caprellidae, has feather-like setae line several of their 18 appendages for collecting food — amphipod translates to “feet on all sides” in Greek.

#argentiniandeepseeps ~1200 meters

A fishy escape fr #ArgentinianDeepSeeps
"The question, O me! so sad, recurring — What good amid these, O me, O
life?
Answer.
That you are here — that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse." - Walt Whitman

Sampling among the stars!

During the #Taleof2Canyons expedition, curious fish nibbled on sediments as ROV SuBastian pilots collected push core samples from a seafloor lined with brittle stars.

Animals as Living Bioreactors expedition is underway! W/ @schmidtsciences.bsky.social, scientists are eager to learn more about the role of midwater animals, like this gossamer worm, in carbon transport. Read more & subscribe to our YouTube for ROV dive updates here: youtube.com/post/Ugkx_Vw...

Multiple Choice Monday

Why is this tiny fish not the octopus’s next tasty snack?
a. This tiny fish tastes funny.
b. Sleepy cephalopod, will eat later.
c. Sated cephalopod, still digesting last tasty fish.
d. Write in answers: correct & incorrect ones will be enjoyed equally.

Thanks to the dedicated and tireless work of our crew on board R/V Falkor (too) supporting a worldwide array of researchers and scientists — we’re working daily to boldly explore our unknown ocean, every day! #OceanExplorationDay Read more: www.linkedin.com/posts/schmid...

Two skate passing in the dark.

Between 200 and 145 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, these cartilaginous fish emerged — part of the class Chondrichthyes, which also includes sharks, stingrays, and chimaeras. ROV pilots filmed these at skate 432 meters during #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Connection to the Sea | Life in Extremes — Cold Seeps of Argentina

Our final expedition video for #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition is out. During this successful bubble-hunting expedition, scientists not only found the bubbles but also myriad animals associated w/seeps: everything from giant coral reefs to gardens of sea pens.
youtu.be/09uSPqhm58I?...

Float like a glass squid.

What might it feel like to reach a state where your body’s density perfectly matches your surroundings? Their buoyant bodies are filled with ammonium chloride, which is lighter than seawater, helping them to conserve energy while traveling. 1,729 m #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

Threats to funding and freedom in art and science belie the deep connections between the two seemingly disparate disciplines, and their combined power to address our most pressing problems. Read my op-ed: www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/01/14/a... @schmidtocean.bsky.social @schmidtsciences.bsky.social

A bustling seafloor scene from the #taleof2canyons expedition: “We studied how these canyons can facilitate such incredible biodiversity,” said Chief Scientist Dr. Silvia Ines Romero. “What are the mechanisms — the currents and the chemistry — that support all of this life?”

2026 Research Expeditions on R/V Falkor (too) 2026 Research Expeditions on R/V Falkor (too)

In 2026, we'll journey across the SW Atlantic Ocean. Fr deep waters off Brazil to seamounts in the Mid-Atlantic, we'll help document biodiversity, study physical, chemical, geological phenomena & map seafloor features. schmidtocean.org/cruises/schm...

YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Life in Extremes — Cold Seeps of Argentina | 4K ROV Highlights

The #ArgentinianDeepSeeps team completed 1st comprehensive study of Argentina’s cold seeps. Their goal: to understand how the animal communities live and interact with localized physical, geological, and chemical conditions as well as with surrounding deep-sea ecosystems.

youtu.be/KvJewhMvrIQ?...

Take a slow ride . . . by snail!
Read the full post about this example of mutualistic symbiosis and the #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition here: www.instagram.com/reel/DTTbCSp...

Sea squirts & squid!

ROV pilots filmed these salps and spectacular squid during the #SouthSandwichIslands expedition with @oceancensus.bsky.social in early 2025. Salps, also known as sea squirts, are ubiquitous throughout the Ocean, and abundant in the Southern Ocean.

Benthic ctenophores clinging to tunicates attached to a submarine canyon wall ~1.75 miles deep, during #ArgentinianDeepSeeps. Platyctenida have colloblasts, or sticky cells that release a mucus-like glue when they unspool extra-long tentacles into the water column and fish for their next meal.

Anyone else feeling tired today?

This fish, likely a deep-sea sole — a species of flatfish in the family Pleuronectidae, likes lazing about along muddy bottoms. ROV pilots filmed while exploring a pockmark, or crater, along the seafloor at 460m. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

ROV pilots filmed this giant phantom jelly, or Stygiomedusa gigantea, at 253 meters during an ROV descent to explore the Colorado-Rawson submarine canyon wall. #ArgentinianDeepSeeps

Let your party streamers fly like a ctenophore! As the year draws to an end, we’re celebrating a year of supporting international teams of scientists on board R/V Falkor (too) off the coasts of Antarctica, the South Sandwich Islands, Argentina, & Uruguay. Happy New Year to all!

Freckled catshark, Scyliorhinus haeckelii, is a common species of shark in Uruguayan waters, according to Dr. David Ebert. He suspects the fish were interested in a parasite dangling off the catshark. Filmed at 227m during #UruguaySUB200

Photo of Kristina Gjerde in front of a rocky coastline.

We are grieving the loss of Kristina Gjerde, who passed away yesterday, 26 December 2025, of cancer. She was a lawyer — graceful, thoughtful, and elegantly articulate — who championed the Ocean, particularly the deep sea. Read our full statement here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean Bubble Hunting | Life in Extremes — Cold Seeps of Argentina

Our #ArgentinianDeepSeeps expedition video is out — learn about bubble hunting off the coast of Argentina!

youtu.be/_1_q7O7kGAE?...