Most Epic Urchin Collection of All Time?
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.

Deep Sea Biodiversity & Ancient Volcanoes near Johnston Atoll
Johnston Atoll, one of the most isolated atolls in the world, is located in the central Pacific Ocean, between the Hawaiian Islands, the Line Islands, and the nation of Kiribati. Around this atoll, the Pacific Remote Island Marine National Monument (PRIMNM) was expanded in 2014 to protect the full 200 nautical mile perimeter of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) encompassing many unexplored seafloor features.