Innovative MBARI technology plays integral role in expedition to document deep-sea biodiversity

An expedition with Schmidt Ocean Institute leveraged imaging systems and AI tools, including some developed by MBARI engineers, to document more than 30 new species from the tropical South Atlantic Ocean.

Why It Matters

Collaboration is essential to advancing ocean exploration and science. International expeditions with our peers expand the reach of MBARI’s technological innovations. Data from these interdisciplinary expeditions can help guide future deep-sea conservation efforts.

An international team of researchers has discovered more than two dozen new marine species during a recent expedition led by Schmidt Ocean Institute and MBARI Adjunct Karen Osborn off the coast of Brazil in the tropical South Atlantic Ocean. Scientists aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) used advanced technologies from MBARI and other collaborators to explore the midwater—an endless expanse of open water between the surface and the seafloor.

Two researchers watch a live video feed in the dark submersible control room aboard a research ship. Their silhouettes are illuminated by a wall of monitors displaying navigation data and a video feed showing a red laser scanning a deep-sea jelly. — Imaging systems developed by MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab use lasers to scan organisms, helping scientists visualize delicate midwater animals. Image courtesy of Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

“The midwater is the last and largest frontier. Every dive into this environment reveals exciting new discoveries that help us understand the fascinating organisms that play a critical, but poorly understood, role in ocean function,” said expedition chief scientist Karen Osborn, curator of polychaetes, peracarids, and plankton at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and adjunct at MBARI.

During the two-week expedition supported by Schmidt Ocean Institute and two Sasakawa Peace Foundation Ocean Shot Research Grants, imaging systems developed by MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab and AI tools developed by MBARI and partners in the FathomNet Program played a central role in accelerating the discovery of remarkable new midwater species.

“Life in the deep sea captures the imagination. Scientists still have so many questions about these amazing animals—how they eat, how they move. Innovation and collaboration are helping answer these questions, and revealing the stunning diversity of life in the largest living space on Earth,” said Principal Engineer Kakani Katija, who leads the Bioinspiration Lab and the FathomNet Program, and participated in the expedition.

The largest living space on Earth

Four researchers examine specimens collected during a scientific expedition. All are leaning over a large clear plastic tub with their hands inside to examine and collect specimens. One is shining a flashlight into the tub. In the background are the white walls of a lab aboard a research ship. — Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History researcher and MBARI Adjunct Karen Osborn (center) studies the evolution and biodiversity of midwater invertebrates. Image courtesy of Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Between the sunlit surface waters and the abyssal seafloor lies the midwater. This vast expanse is the largest habitat on Earth. Here, sunlight fades, turning to twilight, then midnight. There are no reefs or rocks to provide shelter or hide behind. Life in these waters darts and drifts with no boundaries, evolving unique solutions to survive the challenges of finding food, safety, and mates.

MBARI Adjunct Karen Osborn studies the evolution of midwater animals, focusing on the functional morphology and biodiversity of invertebrates. She has examined the elegant locomotion of gossamer worms (Tomopteris spp.) with MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, and described remarkable new deep-sea worms—like the pigbutt worm (Chaetopterus pugaporcinus) and bomber worms (Swima spp.)—with MBARI’s Midwater Ecology Team.

As chief scientist for the Designing the Future 3 expedition with Schmidt Ocean Institute, she led a multidisciplinary team of engineers, zoologists, computer scientists, and bioinformaticians from more than a dozen institutions to use cutting-edge prototype technologies to study midwater biodiversity.

Imaging innovation

Many midwater animals are gelatinous, so their soft, delicate bodies are often damaged by traditional sampling methods. Imaging technology developed by MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab brings the lab to the ocean, allowing researchers to visualize the structures and biomechanics of delicate deep-sea animals in their natural habitat.

An engineer stands in the dark submersible control room aboard a research ship during a scientific expedition. Her silhouette is illuminated by a wall of monitors displaying scientific data and a video feed showing a red laser scanning a deep-sea jelly. — Principal Engineer Kakani Katija leads MBARI’s Bioinspiration Lab, developing tools to visualize the structure and movements of marine life to guide development of future bioinspired technology. Image courtesy of Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

DeepPIV (particle image velocimetry) projects a sheet of laser light that illuminates objects and particles in the water. The laser scan creates 3D in situ visualizations of the structures of soft-bodied deep-sea organisms. MBARI researchers have previously used this technology to visualize the “snot palaces” of giant larvaceans, tadpole-like animals crucial in cycling carbon from the surface to the seafloor.

EyeRIS (remote imaging system) is a three-dimensional lightfield (plenoptic) camera system that can capture detailed three-dimensional visual data about the structures and movement of marine life in their natural deep-sea habitats. This instrument allows researchers to quantitatively study the form and function of organisms, recently revealing new insights about the locomotion of deep-sea octopus.

A researcher sits in front of a computer processing images from an imaging system in a scientific lab aboard a research ship. She is operating a keyboard and mouse while viewing six images on a monitor. On the right is a camera system on a white countertop. In the background are several other scientific instruments. — The Designing the Future 3 expedition marked the first field test for the Bioinspiration Lab’s new multi-view macro imaging system. High-resolution images taken by this system in the lab complemented visual data collected by DeepPIV and EyeRIS in situ. Image courtesy of Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Both DeepPIV and EyeRIS were integrated on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s remotely operated vehicle (ROV) SuBastian to conduct non-invasive 3D scans of midwater animals. Scans from MBARI’s imaging systems complemented image data collected by collaborators’ novel technologies to provide a comprehensive snapshot of life in the midwater.

During the expedition, MBARI engineers also demonstrated a new tool for collecting high-resolution images of animals in the lab. The Bioinspiration Lab’s multi-view macro imaging system combines cameras and lights to capture multiple simultaneous high-resolution perspectives of collected animals. Developed in collaboration with the University of Western Australia and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, this system’s increased resolution enables rapid description of features that cannot be visualized using the in situ systems alone. This expedition marked the first field test for this lab imaging system.

Engaging a global community

Images from Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ROV SuBastian were added to the FathomVerse app while the expedition was still underway to crowd-source identification labels for midwater animals. Image courtesy of FathomVerse, inset image courtesy of ROV SubBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Images and video reveal the diversity and dynamics of marine life and offer scientists vital clues for protecting and improving ocean health, but processing this vast amount of visual data is a huge challenge. The FathomNet Program brings together AI and ocean research, connecting programmers, marine scientists, and ocean enthusiasts to accelerate ocean discovery.

FathomVerse is a mobile app developed through FathomNet that aims to grow a library of labeled imagery that can train artificial intelligence to identify marine life. Combining real scientific imagery with interactive gameplay, FathomVerse enlists ocean enthusiasts worldwide to work alongside scientists to help review and label images so AI can accurately recognize ocean animals.

For the first time, FathomVerse featured data contributions from an expedition in progress. Members of the FathomVerse team, at sea and on shore, incorporated imagery from the Designing the Future 3 expedition collected by ROV SuBastian into the app, inviting anyone from around the world to take part in ocean exploration as it happened.

Accelerating discovery

A scientific instrument scans a rope-like deep-sea siphonophore. The instrument has a camera and a laser in separate gray metal cylinders attached to a metal rod with green and red cables, respectively. It is projecting a sheet of red laser light that is illuminating a siphonophore. The siphonophore is transparent with orange guts. It is curled over itself in a U shape. The background is dark blue water. — Data from MBARI’s advanced imaging technologies helps researchers build digital reconstructions of an animal’s body structure to aid in describing new species. Image courtesy of ROV *SuBastian*/Schmidt Ocean Institute

The expedition expanded on past work by Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, the University of Rhode Island, Harvard University, and the City University of New York, including two previous Schmidt Ocean Institute expeditions. Designing the Future 1 in 2019 tested several new technologies for studying marine life in situ, and Designing the Future 2 in 2021 tested improvements to these tools, continuing to refine the next generation of ocean exploration technologies.

It can take scientists decades to identify and describe new species, but the combination of technology and team expertise enabled the scientists on board R/V Falkor (too) for the Designing the Future 3 expedition to confirm these species as new within just a few hours.

Using high-resolution images and rapid genome sequencing, the team confirmed:

One new species of amphipod
One new species of gossamer worm
Nine new species of jellies
Seven new species of siphonophores
Seven new species of ctenophores
Four new species of larvaceans
Two new species of large, single-celled rhizarians

The deep sea teems with life, but faces an uncertain future from human threats like climate change, pollution, and mining. Despite their crucial roles in ocean food webs and our planet’s carbon cycle, many midwater animals are poorly studied. Emerging technologies are transforming our ability to explore the deep, providing researchers with new tools for collecting data about life and ecosystems that remain shrouded in mystery. MBARI research and technology are answering fundamental questions about the ocean’s depths. The information we collect with our peers will help guide decision-making about the future of the ocean to safeguard life on our blue planet.

This expedition was supported by Schmidt Ocean Institute and two Sasakawa Peace Foundation Ocean Shot Research Grants to the University of Western Australia and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences.

Development of EyeRIS is supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Software development for DeepPIV and EyeRIS is supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation Ocean Shot Research Grants Program. The FathomNet Program is supported by the US National Science Foundation, NOAA, the National Geographic Society, Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, and Dalio Philanthropies. Development of DeepPIV, EyeRIS, and the FathomNet Program is supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s ongoing support of MBARI’s work.

Story by Senior Science Communication and Media Relations Specialist Raúl Nava

For additional information or images relating to this article, please email pressroom@mbari.org.

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