Towards the latter part of Dive 02 of the second Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition, at a depth of 2,948 meters (1.83 miles), we observed this zoarcid eel in the genus Pachycara lying on within cobbles and boulders on the seafloor near an inactive hydrothermal vent chimney. These eels are typically found at active vent sites, suggesting that there may have been hydrothermal activity nearby, even if the team couldn’t see it.
Zoarcid Eel
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Voyage to the Ridge 2022. Download larger version (jpg, 1.6 MB).

Towards the latter part of Dive 02 of the second Voyage to the Ridge 2022 expedition, at a depth of 2,948 meters (1.83 miles), we observed this zoarcid eel in the genus Pachycara lying on within cobbles and boulders on the seafloor near an inactive hydrothermal vent chimney. These eels are typically found at active vent sites, suggesting that there may have been hydrothermal activity nearby, even if the team couldn’t see it.