CRUISES

In collaboration with The Minderoo Foundation's OceanOmics Lab, our team set out to explore the deeper waters surrounding Christmas Island in November 2023 aboard Pangea Ocean Explorer. The primary objective was to collect three types of data: baited video, physical oceanography (conductivity, temperature, depth, current velocity and direction), and biological samples in traps (namely, amphipods, decapods and fish).  

The expedition was fortunate to have exceptional weather which allowed our team to complete 24 lander deployments in eight days. The team deployed baited landers at 1000 m intervals from 6400 m to 1000 m. 

Data collected 

• 160 hours of underwater video footage
• 61,300 m of water column data (conductivity, temperature and depth)
• 112 hours of seafloor current velocity data
• >720 litres of seawater for eDNA and oceanographic analyses
• 1,420 specimens including 4 bony fish, 2 hagfish, 3 prawns, 1 crab and >1,000 amphipods

Eighteen amphipods collected between 4000 m to 6500m depth were dissected and their hind gut was streaked onto 3 different agar types to identify unique deep-sea bacteria capable of digesting plastic and DNA. 

Furthermore, Pangaea Ocean Explorer and the team also mapped an area of 4,888 km2, of which 3,354 km2 had never mapped before. We increased the bathymetric coverage of Christmas Island Marine Park by 1.2%. A major target of this mapping included a submarine landslide and debris field.

Finally, several specimens are thought to be new species so our researchers will begin the process of identifying and describing then.
 

Researchers 

Lead Researcher – Dr Todd Bond 

Dr. Paige Maroni

Dr. Yakufu Niyazi

Dylan White-Kiely

Jennifer Wainwright 

This project was co-funded by the Minderoo Foundation under the Ocean Discovery and Restoration Program. This research was conducted as part of the Our Marine Parks Grant and funded by the Australian Government.