Spectacular footage of a jellyfish initially encountered drifting with its tentacles extended, waiting to encounter prey, before quickly retracting its tentacles and swimming away. Video captured by the Little Hercules ROV on a site referred to as 'Baruna Jaya IV – Site 1' on August 1, 2010.

An 8cm long gastropod snail crawling on a wood fall (log) at 1525 depth. Image captured by the Little Hercules ROV at a site referred to as "Baruna Jaya IV - Site 1" on August 1, 2010. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, INDEX-SATAL 2010. Download larger version (jpg, 1.4 MB).

Dive 9: Snail
August 1, 2010
Latitude: 4d 41.771846’ N
Longitude: 126d 50.807863’ E

Red Jelly

Spectacular footage of a jellyfish initially encountered drifting with its tentacles extended, waiting to encounter prey, before quickly retracting its tentacles and swimming away. Video captured by the Little Hercules ROV on a site referred to as "Baruna Jaya IV – Site 1" on August 1, 2010. Video courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, INDEX-SATAL 2010. Download (mp4, 6.2 MB)

Dive number 9 took place in an area recently mapped by the Indonesian Research Vessel Baruna Jaya IV. The dive site is referred to as “Baruna Jaya IV – Site 1”. The dive started near the base of the nose of the rift. We moved upslope to the southwest moving along the top of the ridge crest. The seafloor was heavily covered with soft sediments and generally contained a very low abundance of epibenthic megafauna (animals on the seafloor visible with your naked eye). Burrows of various sizes were observed but we were not able to determine their relationship to specific biota. As we moved upslope, the seafloor became a mix of pelagic sediment and small pieces of basalt, which became larger in size around 1595 meters depth. Few corals, sponges and basket stars were observed on these partially-exposed hard substrates. One type of sea lily was dominant during the dive. A few wood falls were observed. Fauna associated with the wood falls included squat lobsters, urchins and serpulid worms. There was a high quantity of suspended particles in the water and marine snow throughout the dive.