One of the highlights of the dive, D2 imaged a beautiful hydromedusa in Washington Canyon. Hydromedusa have red-tinted stomachs to camouflage any bioluminescence exhibited by their prey.

One of the highlights of the dive, D2 imaged a beautiful hydromedusa in Washington Canyon. Hydromedusa have red-tinted stomachs to camouflage any bioluminescence exhibited by their prey. Image courtesy of NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Our Deepwater Backyard: Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014. Download larger version (jpg, 1.7 MB).

Dive 02 – Washington Canyon
September 6, 2014
37.4109N, 74.4659W, 660 meters
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Okeanos Explorer EX1404L3 - Hydromedusa

One of the highlights of the September 6 dive in Washington Canyon was when the Deep Discoverer imaged this beautiful hydromedusa. Hydromedusa have red-tinted stomachs to camouflage any bioluminescence exhibited by their prey. Video courtesy of NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Download (mp4, 8.9 MB)

Dive 02 investigated the south flank of Washington Canyon. Remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer (D2) reached the seafloor at a depth of 645 meters and settled over a soft sediment area with several halosaurs and experienced swarms of small crustaceans (amphipods and euphausiids) that would continue throughout the dive. This area was geologically characterized by often burrowed soft sediment, soft sediment outcrops, and a few steep slopes heavily encrusted by biology. Common fauna during D2’s transit upslope included red crabs, anemones, sponges, blackbelly rosefish, octopus, hake, and brittle stars buried in the sediment. Some of the highlights the dive included a pair of goosefish, three hydromedusa, a couple of crabs fighting over a recently captured squid, and colonies of deep-sea corals (anthothela and both white and pink morphs of bubblegum corals).