In the last two weeks aboard the R/V Western Flyer, we’ve spent 24 ROV dives cruising across the seafloor offshore Southern California, collecting sediment cores. Much of the seafloor we have surveyed is flat, muddy, and brown. So, one can imagine the eruption of excitement when we see a cool deep-sea animal. More notable organisms we’ve seen are a rare whipnose angler fish, a huge sleeper shark, and the elusive vampire squid. On one dive we came upon a very large group of crabs. What they were doing all together, we don’t know. We’ve also come across less exciting sights on the seafloor. One thing we are seeing a lot of is trash. Whether dumped over the side of a boat or washed out to sea by rivers and wave action, we are sad to report, there is far too much trash in the deep sea.