The manipulator arm of remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer holds a piece of a glass sponge collected from a depth of 1,706 meters (5,597 feet) during Dive 07 of the 2023 Shakedown + EXPRESS West Coast Exploration expedition. As the coral and sponge communities are not well known in this region, sample collection is important to being able to further identify, and therefore understand, these organisms. This was one of four primary biological samples collected during the dive.
Collecting A Glass Sponge
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, 2023 Shakedown + EXPRESS West Coast Exploration. Download larger version (jpg, 787 KB).

The manipulator arm of remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer holds a piece of a glass sponge collected from a depth of 1,706 meters (5,597 feet) during Dive 07 of the 2023 Shakedown + EXPRESS West Coast Exploration expedition. As the coral and sponge communities are not well known in this region, sample collection is important to being able to further identify, and therefore understand, these organisms. This was one of four primary biological samples collected during the dive.