This beautiful pale orange coral was collected at the Lophelia coral banks. Very different from the surrounding pale white Lophelia, The members of the Islands in the Stream 2002 expedition had never seen this type of coral before among the Lophelia during their dives.

Sponge

Fly trap anemone.

A benthic sled which is used to sample the ocean bottom for various types of fish and invertebrates. Lowered to the ocean floor on a wire, the sled slides along the bottom on its side runners. Organisms and materials that are collected are swept into the net and brought back to the surface.

One of the benthic traps on the sea floor, possibly about to catch a crab. These light-tight, insulated traps were deployed from the Johnson Sea-Link II submersible to collect organisms and bring them to the surface without blinding them or damaging their eyes with the relatively bright light at the surface.

The Eye-in-the-Sea is a specially-designed camera that was left on the sea floor by the submersible for one or two days at a time to record the surrounding bioluminescence without the bright lights and loud noise of the submersible.

This Phakellia fan sponge was observed during one of the submersible dives.

This galatheid crab, commonly known as a squat lobster, was brought aboard the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON. from 1400 feet. It was sitting within a mass of Lophelia coral which grows in massive reefs in the dark, cold waters off the coast of South Carolina.

These are deep sea glass sponges retrieved at 1400 feet. Glass sponges are typically very fragile and rarely hold their shape when transported to the surface.

This deep sea fish is commonly referred to as a green eye due to the beautiful iridescent pattern around its large eyes and head.

A map of the dive locations visited during the third leg of this expedition.

Deck-hand on the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON crouching in front of the Johnson Sea-Link II submersible as it is launched from the ship.

This is a healthy branch of Lophelia coral sampled from the deep ocean reefs off the coast of South Carolina. Unlike tropical species of coral, Lophelia possesses no zooxanthellae (a symbiotic dinoflagellate) which often give their coralline hosts beautiful colors.

This tiny and very dangerous Portugese Man-O-War jellyfish measures only an inch across. It was collected using a dip net over the rail of the R/V Seward Johnson during one evenings "night-lighting" samplings.

The large aluminum frame of the neuston net is 1 meter high and 3 meters long. Here the net is being deployed off the starboard side of the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON. The neuston net is designed to sample the organisms living at the very surface layer of the ocean. The yellow floats on top of the frame insure that it will not sink any lower that 1 meter below the surface.

Porpida porpida has a small disc like body and floats freely in the water column . Related to other species of jellyfish, this species measures just one inch in diameter.

A small mass of sargassum weed. The numerous small round spheres are floats filled with carbon dioxide. These provide buoyancy to the algae. Lines of sargassum can stretch for miles along the oceans surface. The clumps of floating algae are often concentrated by the strong winds and wave action associated with the Gulf Stream.

This deep sea scallop shell was retrieved by the Johnson-Sea-Link II submersible during a dive at an area off the South Carolina coast called "The Steeples". Even though the scallop within the shell has died, the shell itself provides a home for bryozoans, tunicates, serpulids, and algae which grow upon it.

The science team aboard the R/V Seward Johnson for the third leg of the expedition from August 16-31, 2002. The Johnson-Sea-Link submersible that was used for each of the 23 dives during the mission, rests behind them on the fantail of the ship.

Scorpion fish

This sea anemone collected during the mission sits inside the onboard aquarium of the R/V Seaward Johnson.

The Research Vessel Seward Johnson carries the scientific parties for the Islands in the Stream 2002 Expedition; Exploring Underwater Oases. Owned and operated by the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, the vessel serves as the platform for the Johnson-Sea-Link II submersible.

This tiny spiny puffer fish was caught in a neuston net tow. Many juvenile fish live in clumps of sargassum weed, a type of marine algae that lives its whole life floating at the oceans surface.

Lithistid sponge.

A large softball-sized sponge. Perhaps a melon sponge.

This pale pink sponge was collected during one of the submersible dives with the manipulator arm of the Johnson Sealink II.

Two sponges.

Yellow sponge.

Unknown.

A softball-sized sponge, along with the dark manganese-coated rock rock on which it sat, collected from 700-ft depths off Charleston. This melon sponge, collected from the Blake Plateau,

This Arrow squid, measured almost two feet long when it was brought aboard the R/V SEWARD JOHNSON during an evenings "night lighting" sampling.

A starfish was sighted by the scientists from inside the Johnson-Sea-Link II submersible during one of the dives.

Tiny tubes built as housing by serpulid tube-worms were clustered in a small forest-like grove on one of the rocks collected. These tubes are about a quarter inch long and are shown here as viewed through a dissecting microscope on board the ship.

Fish specimens collected by the Tucker Trawl, a type of net that was deployed most nights after sunset.

A juvenile scrawled filefish (Aluterus scriptus) found within the mass of sargassum. It's cryptic coloring helps it avoid preditors as it lives among the tangled mass of floating algae. This species may grow as long as two to three feet in length.

This pencil urchin was brought up from the deep ocean using an Otter trawl.

Aulacoctena sp., a large softball-sized cydippid ctenophore from the deep waters of the Arctic Ocean.

An unknown species of commensal amphipod captured below 1000 meters with the multinet.

One of the cnidarians broughts up from the seafloor over 2000 meters deep.

Bivalves brought up in a box core from the deep Arctic seafloor.

Clione, a shell-less snail known as the Sea Butterfly swims in the shallow waters beneath Arctic ice.

Clione, a shell-less snail known as the Sea Butterfly swims in the shallow waters beneath Arctic ice.

An Arctic Cod rests in an ice-covered space.

Crossota sp., a deep red medusa found just off the bottom of the deep sea.

Chrysaora, a large jellyfish, drifts underneath the Arctic ice.

A polar bear cub curiously stands on its hind legs while its mother stays nearby. The two bears approached within 200 meters of the ship.

Katrin Iken (left) and Bodil Bluhm move deep-sea mud from the trawl net to a bucket. The benthic scientists will sieve the mud to find creatures within it for additional research.

This species of amphipod, Eusirus holmii, was surprisingly found in association with the ice as well as deeper than 2000 meters.

The Healy Crew and 2005 Hidden Ocean Science Team pose for a panoramic group shot.

The bow of the 420-foot US Coast Guard Cutter Healy. Healy's hull hull is reinforced with up to 2-inch thick steel plates at critical areas to withstand the impact of breaking ice.