Deep-Sea Biology Society

Kudos to the Chinese deep diving submersible Fendouzhe and team (which have also been to Challenger Deep where we didn't see anything like these creatures)!
www.bbc.com/news/article...
🌊 🦑

Have spent an amazing time these last few weeks as Benthic Taxonomist on the RV Tarajoq as part of their annual surveys of the Greenlandic 🇬🇱 Shrimp and Cod! It is always such a privilege and always reminds me how much I love being at sea

Deepest know chemosynthesis-based ecosystems!

Members, don’t forget - upcoming @dsbsoc-arts.bsky.social art-science deadline on Aug. 31st!

Back on land after a month of being at sea sampling in Earth's most remote ecosystem - the deep sea. Always just grateful for the experience and the kind people I have met during that time. @dsbsoc.bsky.social

Six of those Stylochoidea-like polyclads sampled today by
@schmidtocean.bsky.social at Mar Del Plata Canyon, Argentina, cca 2500 m. Fine large #polyclads, enough to fill few double wide slides. Good luck with future description of those. Available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg9N... #WormWednesday

An example output from our framework. An image of the Antarctic seafloor, with hundreds of organisms on it. The organisms each have a bounding box around them, a class label, and a confidence score produced by our framework.

🇦🇶 Our new paper detailing the automated detection of Antarctic benthic organisms using high-res in situ imagery has been accepted to the #ICCV2025 Joint Workshop on Marine Vision!

📄 Read the preprint now: arxiv.org/abs/2507.21665

🧵1/4

🤔 Did you know that with a weaker #AMOC tropical shallower waters got + oxygen in the last deglacial? 😱 Using benthic #forams, we explore how #AMOC influences Atlantic shallow circulation 🌊🐚🔬👩‍🚀 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @marumunibremen.bsky.social @natcomms.nature.com

Lance 22.1 Mar Del Plata Canyon | SOI Divestream 817 YouTube video by Schmidt Ocean

🐟🦀For those interested in the deep sea, a YouTube live stream is currently showcasing an expedition near Mar del Plata, Argentina, at 2600 m depth. Speaking in English and SPANISH!!! 🦐🦑
www.youtube.com/live/xg9NLXK...

🚨 Bottom trawling has been destroying coldwater corals for decades. Now, scientists worldwide are calling for the urgent protection of seamounts and vulnerable marine ecosystems.

Are you a scientist? Add your voice to the open letter calling for action: buff.ly/nGM6L6Z @savingoceans.bsky.social

Abstract deadline for #OSM26 is August 20th. The #ASLO_ECC Amplifying Voices session is open for submission. This session has all fees waived, for those who are unable to attend the event, but want to share their work 🧪🌊🪨👩🏻‍🔬
@geolatinas.bsky.social @aslo.org @agu.org

A schematic showing carbon isotope values for different benthic foraminiferal species living in sedimentary habitats reflecting different methane and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) values. IFA = individual foraminiferal analyses. SMTZ = sulfate-methane transition zone.

A scanning electron microscope image of an intact versus a broken benthic foraminiferal test belonging to the genus Pyrgo.

Led by U. LA Lafayette Ph.D. student Gracie Babineaux, we have a new paper out in #EPSL showing how individual foraminiferal δ¹³C analyses of benthic Pyrgo spp. can record short-lived #methane seepage events from the seafloor. 🌊

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I am Kurt Bryant Bacharo, currently a graduate student in the Molecular Invertebrate and Systematics Laboratory @miselab.bsky.social at the University of the Ryukyus. Prior to relocating to Japan, I finished my BS and MS degrees in Marine Biology at the University of San Carlos in Cebu, Philippines where I had the privilege to study the readily accessible shallow-water reefs in my country. Image: Kurt Bacharo smiling and wearing glasses, a white hard hat, flotation device and a DSBS17 shirt on the deck of the R/V Kaimei.

Coming from the developing world, the concept of deep-sea exploration has always been out of sight, out of mind. The opportunity only opened to me when I was selected as an OceanCensus participant to board JAMSTEC R/V Kaimei for the KM 24-03 (Leg 2) research cruise last year to explore the Kyushu-Palau Ridge and the Daito Islands. The latter is part of the Deep-Sea Archaic Refugia in Karst (D-ARK) project, whose main objective has been on the documentation of the deep-sea biodiversity found inside limestone caves. Now in its second year, I am lucky to be part of the project again to further explore the hidden biodiversity of the Daito Islands. This year's participation for the KM 25-06C research cruise was made possible by a Research Support Award granted by @DSBSoc. Image: Kurt gesturing towards the docked R/V Kaimei from the adjacent pier.

As my current project focuses on the taxonomy of black corals in southern Japan, the deep-sea offers significant research opportunities related to biodiversity, biogeography, and species discovery. Few of the specimens collected both in KM 24-03 (Leg 2) and KM 25-06C research cruises highlighted new records of black corals in the NW Pacific, and perhaps some are likely new to science. Image: Two pictures of Kurt smiling towards the camera on deck of the R/V Kaimei. He is wearing a dark blue JAMSTEC shirt.

Another exciting 2025 #DSBSoc support awardee!

Meet Kurt Bacharo (@kurtbb.bsky.social), a grad student in the @miselab.bsky.social at U. of the Ryukyus working with #BlackCorals and currently aboard the #JAMSTEC R/V Kaimei exploring the biodiversity off the Daito Islands.

Read more in alt-text!

We've got a new paper out: "Assisting human annotation of marine images with foundation models". www.frontiersin.org/journals/mar...

(Image: Shot of echinoderms being viewed with a dissecting scope.)

Read more about Jonathan on the image alt-text (and on instagram @jony.jnf: www.instagram.com/p/DMk6fdmtL2...)

Hi everyone, I am Jonathan Flores, a postdoctoral researcher at the “Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos” (IBIOMAR, CCT CONICET-CENPAT, @ibiomar.conicet) in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. I study the fascinating world of #DeepSea sea urchins (Echinodermata: Echinoidea), focusing on their diversity, biogeography, and reproductive biology. (Image: Jonathan Flores standing on a coastline facing the camera wearing a black jacket and a red scarf.)

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to join scientific expeditions to some of the least-explored areas in the Southwestern Atlantic, including the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon on the Argentine continental slope and the Marine Protected Area Namuncurá - Banco Burdwood. These experiences have given me the chance to work with deep-sea fauna and have fueling my passion for life at sea and hands-on fieldwork.  (Image: Shot of a trawl of echinoderm samples on the deck of a ship.)

In my current project, I am using molecular tools to study how different reproductive strategies — such as species with dispersive larval stages versus brooding species — affect genetic connectivity. By integrating morphological, reproductive, and genetic data, we can better understand the evolutionary and biogeographic patterns of deep-sea sea urchins. (Image: Shot of several different types of echinoderms and the deck of a ship somewhere in the Southwestern Atlantic.)

As an early-career researcher, I am deeply grateful and excited to have received the @DSBSoc Support Award. This funding will help me incorporate essential molecular methods, enhance the scope of my studies, and foster new collaborations with international researchers who share a passion for deep-sea biodiversity. (Image: Several shots of the RV Puerto Deseado and Jonathan Flores on the deck.)

Hey members! We’re excited to highlight some of our 2025 award grantees and their ongoing work.

Meet Jonathan Flores, a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos #IBIOMAR (CCT CONICET-CENPAT) in Puerto Madryn, Argentina working with #DeepSea #echinoderms.

[New Paper] Reveals 4 distinct metapopulations in the hot vent mussel Bathymodiolus septemdierum found across the Indo-W Pacific! With implications for conservation in the face of upcoming deep-sea mining.

Out now in Journal of Biogeography, OPEN ACCESS: doi.org/10.1111/jbi....

This week in the Deep-Sea Round-Up
🔹 New research on deep-sea ecosystem changes
🔹 Benthic community mapping
🔹 Fish feeding strategies
🔹 Plus – explore the exciting Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026 line-up!

Read the 17 July issue here: buff.ly/cdiYw7D

#DeepSea #OceanScience #DeepSeaRoundUp #DOSI

Ocean Sciences Meeting 2026 Join AGU, TOS, and ASLO for the Ocean Sciences Meeting, held 22-27 February 2026, in Glasgow, Scotland. The meeting is the flagship conference for the ocean sciences community and the larger ocean-con...

🚨 Abstract submissions are OPEN for #OSM2026!

As a co-lead of both the deep-sea exploration & the digital ocean topics (with many sessions in each!) I'm excited to see your research on the programme.

📝 Submit: www.agu.org/ocean-scienc...

Heading to #ISA30 in Kingston? Join DOSI for an evening of science, discussion & deep-sea storytelling!

"10 Years of Science on Mining Impact & Environmental Protection"
📍Talk of the Town Room, Jamaica Pegasus Hotel
🗓️ Thurs 17 & Mon 21 July
🕖 19:00–21:00

Join us for Session DS003 at #OSM26 in Glasgow- From High Seas to EEZs: The Role of Deep-Sea Science in Shaping Knowledge-Based Ocean Policy
🔗 agu.confex.com/agu/osm26/pr...
🌐 Human impacts
🧬 Biodiversity + ecosystems
📜 Policy + governance

Deadline: 20/08/2025

Members, don’t forget!
Upcoming deadline for abstracts for #OSM26 in Glasgow is August 20th 2025, 23:59 EDT.

sampling stations where we collected myctophids

Niamh Smith, Alisha Gill

lanternfish (myctophids) from the voyage

"The Great Migration" voyage (TAN2412) has wrapped, and our team successfully sampled 1575 myctophids comprising 33 species from a latitudinal gradient spanning New Zealand to New Caledonia. A treasure trove for our future work! 🧵(1/3)

From Cryptic to God Complex: Discovery of 5 New Isopods! Senckenberg Nature Research scientists explored one of the deepest and least-known parts of the ocean, the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench and nearby regions in the Northwest Pacific. In doing so, they uncover...

What scientists thought was one deep-sea isopod species turned out to be six—five of them brand new to science!

Explore this cryptic group's discovery story and meet the whole isopod crew in the article below:
www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-c...
@sgn.one

[New Paper] reporting 8 distinct mollusc eggs from abyssal and hadal depths of Aleutian Trench is now out in Progress in Oceanography! With a potential Dumbo Octopus egg + at least 5 snail eggs!
OPEN ACCESS: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

With @sigwartae.bsky.social @oceanspecies.bsky.social

🌊 The DOSI delegation is participating in #ISA30 this week.
We're contributing independent #DeepOcean science to support the continued drafting of #DeepSeaMining regulations. Learn more about the DOSI Minerals Working Group: buff.ly/StsRqEq
📸 Earth Negotiations Bulletin

a yoyo camera benthic image from the western Antarctic Peninsula...some amazing Astrotoma agassizii brittle stars and a large vase sponge and crinoids.

Starting the week with a yoyo camera benthic image from the western Antarctic Peninsula on NBP20-10...some amazing Astrotoma agassizii brittle stars in there! #Antarctica 🧪🌎🦑🇦🇶🐧

Cruise alert! ⛴️

We’re immensely excited to follow the #JAMSTEC D-ARK expedition, where black coral specialist Kurt Bacharo @kurtbb.bsky.social (our 2025 cruise bursary awardee) is participating and exploring deep-sea limestone caves around the Daito Islands.

Follow here: www.jamstec.go.jp/dark/e/

I don't often share opportunities that don't have funding but this still seems really cool. Check it out!