Overview

• At 1,883 meters off Mar del Plata, a Thymops birsteini mother lobster sheltered eight juveniles in a rocky crevice before fiercely attacking the ROV SuBastian.
• The Schmidt Ocean Institute’s ROV SuBastian, operated with CONICET scientists, captured the interaction and broadcast it live to a national audience.
• Viewership of the livestream outperformed nearly all simultaneous Argentine broadcasts, underscoring public appetite for high-definition deep-sea exploration.
• All footage and accompanying data from the Mar del Plata dives are being released openly to inform proposals for Argentina’s first continental-slope marine protected areas.
• With the Mar del Plata phase complete, the research vessel will depart on August 12 for the Uruguay SUB 200 deep-sea survey.