Do you enjoy watching people play video games online or those fingertip grip last-second catches in sports games? This is the highlight for you! Watch as ROV pilots struggle to sample a purple pancake sea urchin on the ocean floor of an unnamed seamount near Johnston Atoll in the Central Pacific. Combatting currents thousands of meters deep and with the help of sampling tools like a scoop and the suction hose, the team finally makes an all-time great catch. As the team learned, “don’t go chasing urchins!” Check out what is called the “most epic sample collection of all time” by the control van Corps of Exploration.

E/V Nautilus explores regions and depths of the ocean rarely seen by human eyes, so it is crucial to have a record of the environment and organisms found below. Our team collects biological, geological, and water specimens using remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) and processes samples in our shipboard lab. Learn more about our onboard sampling procedures: https://nautl.us/3NOBL50

This expedition to explore the ocean floor near Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument is funded by NOAA Ocean Exploration via the Ocean Exploration Cooperative Institute.