Hawaiian Monk Seal diving at -543m!

Scientists completed a 64-day cruise to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, onboard the University of Hawaii's Research Vessel, Ka'imikai-o-Kanaloa, and the Pisces IV and V Submersibles. They studied the regions virtually unexplored deep-sea corals, submarine canyons, and seamounts. One objective was to learn how endangered Hawaiian monk seals use shallow and deep-water habitats for hunting and protection. When scientists dove to a deep-sea coral bed, they were shocked to see an endangered Hawaiian monk seal at an amazing depth of 543 meters. Please visit source: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/03nwhi/media/monkseal_video.html

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Hawaiian
• Monk
• Seal
• deep
• diving
• NOAA
• Ocean
• Explorer

[exonautes]

well she feels not stressed at all

diving registers in these seals show that they are able to go very deep

this one likely was atracted deeper than usual by the submarine lights

[hachijoshark]

Did this seal safely come back from there?

[jaksel]

So impressive! Imagine how well they would perform after some professional apnea training ;-)

[08A1A5KA]

I wonder if anyone has since tracked that seal to see how often it goes down to that depth and if others of its social group do the same. If you look at the seal as it crosses the screen, you can see A18 branded on its back, indicating that somebody has been studying it and should be able to locate it again.

[tomestokes]

absolutely remarkable.

[universalcitizen1970]

Beautiful!

I had no idea that the Monk Seal swam in such deep waters.

Thanks for posting this video.

[guttersnipe2000]

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!wow...absolutly­ ...totally ...wonderful....signed...a Kauai native