#Boats 🚤🛶

[jttlpgroup]

Lilian 💙 7622   http://www.steveb29.com/2024/04/blog-post_694.html

[xtruss]

Russia's Typhoon-Class Missile Submarine Is Something the Navy Can't Match

Russia's Typhoon-Class nuclear submarines were a vessel the U.S. Navy could never match in terms of size and total tonnage. They carried a massive amount of Nuclear Missiles.

— By Peter Suciu | Monday January 22, 2024

Image: Shutterstock

A Big Deal: The Russian Navy's Typhoon-Class — Nearly a year ago, Russia decommissioned the Project 941 Akula (NATO reporting name Typhoon) heavy nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine cruiser Dmitry Donskoy several years earlier than expected. In fact, it had been only three years ago that the Kremlin announced the boat would remain in service until at least 2026, even as its role was reportedly limited to that of a weapons test platform for the new Borei-, Borei-A-, Yasen-and Yasen-M-class submarines.

In February 2023, it was officially confirmed that Dmitry Donskoy was decommissioned in February due to cost considerations. The submarine had served for more than 40 years in the Northern Fleet.

Initially designated the TK-208, she was the lead vessel of the Soviet third-generation Akula-class (Russian for "Shark"). She entered service in 1981 with the Soviet Navy, and after a 12-year overhaul and refit that began in 1990, she reentered service in 2002 as the Dmitry Donskoy, named after the Grand Duke of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy (1359–1389), the reputed founder of Moscow.

According to Russian media, Dmitry Donskoy initially carried D-19 strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as its basic armament. Following its upgrade under Project 941UM, it was involved in the tests of the seaborne Bulava ICBM.

Typhoon-Class: Project 941 Boats: The Sevmash Shipyard built six of a planned seven Project 941 submarines for the Russian Navy, and all were operational with the Northern Fleet. Though the oldest of the submarines, the Dmitriy Donskoy was also the last of the class to remain in service.

The TK-202, TK-12 – later renamed the Simbirsk – and T-13 were withdrawn from active service between 1996 and 2009, and scrapped with the financial support of the United States. Two other boats: the TK-17/Arkhangelsk and TK-20/Severstal remained in service until they were decommissioned circa 2013. A seventh boat, TK-210, was laid down but scrapped before completion.

With a displacement of 48,000 tons, a length of 175 meters (nearly 600 feet), a 23-meter beam, and a 12-meter draught, the Typhoon-class was the largest class of submarines ever built. Developed with multiple pressure hulls, including five inner hulls situated inside a superstructure of two parallel main hulls, the Typhoon-class was also wider than any other submarine ever built. The submarines were powered by OK-650 pressurized-water nuclear reactors, two 50,000 horsepower steam turbines, and four 3,200 KW turbogenerators and this provides the boat with the ability to sail at a speed of up to 22.2 knots on the surface and 27 knots whilst submerged.

Each contained nineteen compartments, including a strengthened module, which housed the main control room as well as an electronic equipment compartment above the main hulls and behind the missile launch tubes. It even was reported that there was a sauna on board as well as a small swimming pool for the crew. The sheer size of the submarines was likely welcomed by the approximately 160 sailors who called the submarine home on voyages lasting 120 days or longer, oftentimes without surfacing for months at a time.

The Typhoon-class subs were designed to counter the United States Navy's Ohio-class subs, which were capable of carrying up to 192 100-kiloton nuclear warheads. By contrast, the Soviet Typhoons could carry a primary cache of 20 RSM-52 SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles), each of which contained up to 10 MIRV (multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle) warheads.

Though the Dmitriry Donskoiy has been decommissioned, in 2021, a new sub of the Borei-class has already begun construction; and when launched, will bear the name of the legendary founder of Moscow.

— Peter Suciu is a Michigan-Based Writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs.

[lokisasylum]

STREAM ON YOUR BOATS 🫡🚢⛵️🛶🚤

[snakebites-and-ink]

Ocean-themed OC questions

I’ve included what the emoji is in brackets because they don’t always show up right on different platforms. You can send in the word instead of the emoji if you need to.

🫧[Bubbles] What is the hardest thing to get your oc to talk about?

🛟[Lifebuoy] How easily does your oc trust? Who do they trust the most?

🦈[Shark] What does your oc fear the most?

🦪[Oyster] What does your oc consider most valuable?

🍤[Fried shrimp] What is your oc’s favorite food or treat?

🐬[Dolphin] What activity does your oc think is the most fun?

🛳️[Passenger ship] What is your oc’s idea of luxury?

🐚[Seashell] Does your oc collect things? If so, what?

🏖️[Beach] What does your oc do to relax?

🐟[Fish] Does your oc like animals? What’s their favorite?

🪸[Coral] What is your oc’s moral/ethical philosophy?

🐡[Pufferfish] What pet peeve(s) do they have?

🏄[Surfing] How easily do they become restless?

🏊[Swimming] Can your oc swim? How good are they at it?

🦦[Otter] How likeable/charismatic do others find your oc?

🔱[Trident] How superstitious is your oc? Are there any specific superstitions they have?

🩱[Swimsuit] What is their sense of fashion like?

🎣[Fishing pole] What draws your oc in to people the most?

🌀[Cyclone] What is the climate like where they live? How does that affect their life?

🐧[Penguin] How do they react to feeling uncomfortable?

🪝[Hook] What bait would work best to get your oc somewhere?

⚓[Anchor] Who or what does your oc depend on the most?

⛵[Sailboat] What does your oc do for escapism?

🚢[Ship] If your oc could travel anywhere in the world, where would they go?

🧊[Ice] Is your oc the friend who’s always cold, always hot, or neither?

🏝️[Island] How does your oc respond to isolation (literal or feelings of isolation)?

🐳[Spouting whale] What do they consider their greatest achievement?

🐋[Whale] What do they consider their biggest mistake?

🦑[Squid] What is their most surprising quirk?

🐠[Tropical fish] Did they have any role models growing up? Who?

💧[Water drop] How easily does your oc get dehydrated? How much does feeling thirsty bother them?

🧜[Merperson] If they could have any one wish granted, what would they wish for?

🌊[Wave] What do they think is the most beautiful about nature?

🐙[Octopus] How honest are they with themself? Do they tend to lie to themself about anything in particular?

🦀[Crab] How would they treat others if there would be no repercussions?

🚣[Rowing boat] How have they changed throughout their story (or backstory)?

🛶[Canoe] What education do they have?

🤿[Snorkel] What words or phrases do they use a lot?

🦞[Lobster] What are their most distinguishing physical characteristics?

🦐[Shrimp] How are they with children?

🦭[Seal] What’s their love language?

🩴[Sandal] What are they like while watching a horror movie?

🚤[Speedboat] How are they with money?

I made this just for fun; I honestly do not have my WIPs well-developed enough for many of these questions, so there is no need to send me one of them when reblogging/using the game yourself. (though if you want to send an ask to someone else who reblogged one of these, you are encouraged to do so!) I made these for the sake of making them, not for the sake of using them myself, lol.

[zpl1nt3r3d-b0n3-zhardz]

marine themed pronouns!!

blue/blues/blueself

water/waters/waterself

sea/seas/seaself

drip/drips/dripself

drop/drops/dropself

whale/whales/whaleself

dolph/dolphs/dolphself

dolphin/dolphins/dolphinself

fish/fishs/fishself

gill/gills/gillself

fin/fins/finself

crab/crabs/crabself

krab/krabs/krabself

kingcrab/kingcrabs/kingcrabself

squid/squids/squidself

octo/octos/octoself

octopus/octopus/octopuself

shark/sharks/sharkself

shrimp/shrimps/shrimpself

lob/lobs/lobself

lobster/lobsters/lobsterself

coral/corals/coralself

shell/shells/shellself

beach/beachs/beachself

wave/waves/waveself

jellyfish/jellyfishs/jellyfishself

boat/boats/boatself

swim/swims/swimself

mer/mers/merself

mermaid/mermaids/mermaidself

merman/mermans/mermanself

tail/tails/tailself

bubble/bubbles/bubbleself

swirl/swirls/swirlself

crash/crashs/crashself

flow/flows/flowself

sand/sands/sandself

seafoam/seafoams/seafoamself

seaglass/seaglass/seaglassself

seaweed/seaweeds/seaweedself

starfish/starfishs/starfishself

ship/ships/shipself

mist/mists/mistself

myst/mysts/mystself

cruise/cruises/cruiseself

aquatic/aquatics/aquaticself

marine/marines/marineself

aquarium/aquariums/aquariumself

tank/tanks/tankself

aqua/aquas/aquaself

anemone/anemones/anemoneself

urchin/urchins/urchinself

oyster/oysters/oysterself

seaslug/seaslugs/seaslugself

clam/clams/clamself

angelfish/angelfishs/angelfishself

barnacle/barnacles/barnacleself

Bluewhale/bluewhales/bluewhaleself

bullshark/bullsharks/bullsharkself

conch/conchs/conchself

cod/cods/codself

clownfish/clownfishs/clownfishself

cuttlefish/cuttlefishs/cuttlefishself

eel/eels/eels/eelself

flounder/flounders/flounderself

flyingfish/flyingfishs/flyingfishself

isopod/isopods/isopodself

krill/krills/krillself

killerwhale/killerwhales/killerwhaleself

lionfish/lionfishs/lionfishself

manatee/manatees/manateeself

mantaray/mantarays/mantarayself

megalodon/megalodons/megalodonself

mega/megas/megaself

narwhal/narwhals/narwhalself

plankton/planktons/planktonself

prawn/prawns/prawnself

pufferfish/pufferfishs/pufferfishself

seal/seals/sealself

seahorse/seahorses/seahorseself

seaturtle/seaturtles/seaturtleself

sponge/sponges/spongeself

swordfish/swordfishs/swordfishself

tigershark/tigersharks/tigersharkself

walrus/walrus/walruself

anthro/anthros/anthroself

arthropod/anthropods/anthropodself

seagrass/seagrass/seagrassself

blobfish/blobfishs/blobfishself

blowfish/blowfishs/blowfishself

orca/orcas/orcaself

Atlantic/atlantics/atlanticself

pacific/pacifics/pacificself

anglerfish/anglerfishs/anglerfishself

beluga/belugas/belugaself

belugawhale/belugawhalese/belugawhaleself

baskingshark/baskingsharks/baskingsharkself

bluecrab/bluecrabs/bluecrabself

koi/kois/koiself

piranha/piranhas/piranhaself

salmon/salmons/salmonself

scallop/scallops/scallopself

pearl/pearls/pearlself

seagull/seagulls/seagullself

penguin/penguins/penguinself

Pelican/pelicans/pelicanself

kelp/kelps

algae/algaes/algaeself

crustacean/crustaceans/crustaceanself

surf/surfs/surfself

Trident/tridents/tridentself

merfolk/merfolks/merfolkself

blub/blubs/blubself

🩵/🩵s/🩵self

💙/💙s/💙 self

🩶/🩶s/🩶self

💦/💦s/💦self

🐳/🐳s/🐳self

🐋/🐋s/🐋self

🐬/🐬s/🐬self

🦭/🦭s/🦭self

🐟/🐟s/🐟self

🐠/🐠s/🐠self

🐡/🐡s/🐡self

🦈/🦈s/🦈self

🐙/🐙s/🐙self

🦀/🦀s/🦀self

🦐/🦐s/🦐self

🦞/🦞s/🦞self

🦑/🦑s/🦑self

🐚/🐚s/🐚self

🪸/🪸s/🪸self

🪼/🪼s/🪼self

🧂/🧂s/🧂self

💧/💧s/💧self

🌊/🌊s/🌊self

⛱️/⛱️s/⛱️self

🔵/🔵s/🔵self

🔷️/🔷️s/🔷️self

🔹️/🔹️s/🔹️self

⛵️/⛵️s/⛵️self

🛶/🛶s/🛶self

🚤/🚤s/🚤self

🛳/🛳s/🛳self

⛴️/⛴️s/⛴️self

🫧/🫧s/🫧self

🟦/🟦s/🟦self

🧜/🧜s/🧜self

🧜‍♀️/🧜‍♀️s/🧜‍♀️self

🧜‍♂️/🧜‍♂️s/🧜‍♂️self

🌀/🌀s/🌀self

🐧/🐧s/🐧self

🎣/🎣s/🎣self

🌅/🌅s/🌅self

[birdihaus]

🛶let me take you backwards and forwards🚤 This is a painting I did while in residence @bevilacqualamasa in 2017/18. It’s based on a photograph I captured of friends waiting for the Venice Night Line at the Rialto boat stop. If you’ve never stood in one of these stops, it may recall some sort of public transportation interior. Feel welcome to comment below what you may be seeing for yourself :) This piece was first exhibited at the end of residency group show at the BLM Gallery in Piazza San Marco, Venice. Later that year, it travelled to Berlin to be shown in Transferred Recall, a solo show. Next year, you may have the chance to see this work in-person again in Italy. 🫶🇮🇹✨ Artwork: 03h53m Oil Paint & Photo-transfer on Canvas 132 x 208cm Jaspal Birdi, 2018 . #painting #contemporarypainting #artistresidencies #torontoartist #oilpainting #jaspalbirdi #veniceitaly #venicepainting #venezia #amici #vaparetto #rialto #figurativeart #figurativepainting (at Ponte di Rialto - Venezia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmXQnIaOuaD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[chloeworships]

Pray about this and once God gives you confirmation please don’t delay ⚠️

I just learned Hafia is Israel’s third (3️⃣) largest city and guess what? It’s by the WATER

I AM SCREAMINGGGGGGGG

👀👇🏾

UPDATE:

Babes these house of mirrors are often called MAZES!!!! 🌀Are there more tunnels and people there? 👀 At this theme park during Halloween there is always a Corn Maze 👀🌽🏪

The other day I had a strange vision of the character IT. He was in a tunnel that appeared to me to be in Iran 🇮🇷 He was sitting on a chair and he was tying his shoe laces. The shoes looked like something no adult would wear. I prayed for further revelation. When I went looking for images of houses with mirrors today, I came across this 👇🏾👀 Parental Discretion is advised…Hezbollah is currently in Hafia. IT kills children 😓

UPDATE 2:

EXCUSE ME ☝🏾 BUT WHAT THE HELL IS THIS 👇🏾🤯🔻

I just can’t make this up 🟡👀

Release the hounds!!!!!! 🐕

I forgot to mention I saw a GERMAN SHEPHERD sniffing near a bathtubs 🛀 just like in the clip.

*I am silently freaking out right now*

👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾💫👇🏾

Someone call Benjamin and the Israelites ASAP‼️☎️

I also had a vision of General Herzi 🤩🇮🇱 wwwoooooooooooooo I’m so excited!!!!!

God was correct about Rafah and he will be correct about Hafia. I just pray it’s SOON. HEY MAYBE THATS WHY HE SHOWED US THE WORD

“Soon🎈”

With the balloon.

What’s a little strange to me is the LORD has shown me IT before and then he shows me Mark Zuckerberg who is *drum roll please* 🥁 ——————> JEWISH 🤩

Did they take a boat 🚤 to get there? A canoe? 🛶 wth is going on? 😳😭

[samsammysamson]

Pirates on a boat 🛶

Pirates on a boat 🛥️

Pirates on a fucking boat 🚤

Tyrannosaurus rex on a boat 🛶

Tyrannosaurus rex on the boat 🛥️

Get this cash bitch I ain't even scared 😱

Imma do what I gotta do to get this bread 🥖

And if you ask ussss to do anythingggg, we'll just say

We don't do anything.

[jttlpgroup]

TRINI 🌴🌴 7496   http://www.steveb29.com/2024/04/blog-post_57.html

[xtruss]

How Billions of Dollars and Cutting-Edge Tech Are Revolutionizing Ocean Exploration

What lurks beneath the waves? State-of-the-art robots, ships, and submersibles are helping a new generation of explorers finally understand the most mysterious habitat on Earth.

— ByAnnie Roth | August 15, 2024

Sperm Whales can hold their breath for up to an hour and dive more than a mile below the surface. OceanX scientists are interested in how these marine mammals hunt in such deep waters. Photograph By Brian Skerry, National Geographic

On a warm June morning, a 286-foot private research vessel set off from the green and rocky sea cliffs of the Azores, a chain of islands jutting upward from the North Atlantic Ocean, about a thousand miles west of mainland Portugal. The gleaming white OceanXplorer, rising high above the water, resembled a modified superyacht, with a helicopter pad on the bow and a pair of yellow submersibles near the stern. Below the surface, the ship’s hull featured a high-resolution sonar array to map underwater terrain.

The OceanXplorer had embarked on a unique mission: to tag and retrieve data from bluntnose sixgill sharks in their natural environment, an area so deep that much of their behavior remains a mystery. These prehistoric predators, whose ancestors first appeared 200 million years ago, can grow up to 18 feet long. They’re concealed within the ocean’s mesopelagic layer, or “twilight zone”—a frigid region reaching 3,000 feet down that’s nearly devoid of light. Still, each evening, the slow-moving yet buoyant sixgills here make a three-hour journey up to shallower waters to feed at a known hunting spot on the ledge of an undersea mountain near the Azores.

Top: OceanXplorer is a vessel with a helicopter, submersibles, and small boats for research missions. Here, deck safety officer Derek McQuigg operates a small craft in Sognefjorden, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord. Photograph By Taj Howe, OceanX

Bottom: A submersible launched from the OceanXplorer illuminates seafloor terrain in the Red Sea. Underwater geologic features are difficult to explore, but submersible and ROV technology allows scientists to study them up close. Video Still, OceanX

OceanX scientists, including Melissa Márquez, attempt to attach a camera tag to a sixgill shark from a submersible at a depth of more than 800 feet. They journeyed so deep hoping to capture the shark’s natural behavior. Video Still: OceanX

On board were nearly 70 crew members, including shark biologist Melissa Márquez, who grew up in Mexico; deep-sea researcher Zoleka Filander, a South African ecologist who has discovered several new species of invertebrates; ocean technology inventor Eric Stackpole, a NASA veteran who co-founded an underwater robotics company; and two guest scientists from Portugal’s University of the Azores, Jorge Fontes and Pedro Afonso, who had developed a tag that tracks sharks and provides video.

The team hoped to locate at least one sixgill, attach a camera tag to it, and then retrieve the tag later—something never accomplished before in the deep sea. It would require a series of dives in one of the onboard “bubble subs”— so called because of the acrylic globe that houses passengers. Even then, they would get only a glimpse into this hidden world; the tag would automatically release after 12 hours and float to the surface for recovery. Recovering the data, however, would mark a scientific first, yet another in a series for the team, which works with the nonprofit initiative OceanX. Over the past few years, its researchers have taken dramatic footage of orcas hunting humpback whales and separately made audio recordings of how male humpbacks might use undersea terrain to amplify their mating songs. They have also captured rare footage of the Dana octopus squid in its natural habitat.

If such moments sound particularly entertaining—sharks! whales!—that was by design. The OceanXplorer is the flagship of OceanX, an exploration and media venture co-founded by Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, and his son Mark, who has previously co-produced shows for National Geographic. The group launched in 2018 with the stated goal to “explore the ocean and bring it back to the world.” This has involved converting a former Norwegian support vessel for oil rigs into a mobile scientific research center and film set. OceanX advisers include James Cameron, the Hollywood director of Avatar and Titanic.

A Mother Humpback Whale will stay with her Calf for about a year. The nonprofit OceanX filmed one pair being hunted by orcas and investigated whether the shape of the seafloor amplifies the humpback whale’s song. Photograph By Brian Skerry, National Geographic Image Collection

Beyond the helicopter and the bubble subs, which can take explorers to 3,280 feet underwater, the vessel also carries a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for filming far deeper, plus its own wet and dry laboratories and a holographic viewing table for researchers to generate seemingly made-for-TV models of the data they collect from the deep ocean. There are more than 3,000 film-quality light fixtures throughout the boat. And starting in August, viewers around the world can tune in to see the result of the sixgill expedition, which is part of the National Geographic series OceanXplorers. “There’s never been a more urgent need to understand our ocean and the animals that call it home,” Cameron narrates in the series. “Because their lives, and ours, depend on it.”

OceanXplorers is inspired by the work of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle, who together released the film version of Cousteau’s best-selling book The Silent World nearly 70 years ago. The documentary was among the first underwater films shot in color and sparked worldwide interest in the ocean. That included Ray Dalio, who was entranced by Cousteau’s work and has shared that enthusiasm with his son. “How do you create a Cousteau moment for the modern age?” says Mark Dalio.

The modern age could use an updated Silent World. New technologies are on the cusp of unlocking scientific breakthroughs, but only if they’re funded—which means people need to care and demand action. Spurring that through a series of six 30-minute-plus episodes might sound a bit far-fetched, but as the footage reveals, each journey can lead to even more surprising discoveries.

Advancements In Ocean Exploration Through The Ages:

Top Left! 2012: Filmmaker and Explorer James Cameron exceeds the 1960 depth record at Challenger Deep, which was then surpassed by Victor Vescovo in 2019. Photograph By Mark Thiessen, National Geographic Image Collection

Top Right! 1970: Scuba gear allows scientists like National Geographic Explorer at Large Sylvia Earle to spend hours underwater. Photograph By Bates Littlehales, National Geographic Image Collection

Middle Left! 1934: Engineer Otis Barton and naturalist William Beebe dive below 3,000 feet, a human first, in a vessel called a bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda. Photograph By William Beebe, National Geographic Image Collection

Middle Right! 1960: Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh are the first to visit Challenger Deep, the lowest region of Earth’s oceans. Photograph By AFP Via Getty Images

Bottom Left! 1977: U.S. scientists discover hydrothermal vents via an underwater camera and temperature sensor. To their surprise, life thrived in this sunless environment. Photograph By Rov Subastian, Schmidit Ocean Institute

Bottom Right! 2024: Caltech engineers test the potential of bionic jellyfish—live jellies equipped with sensors to record information as they swim. Photograph By David Liittschwager, National Geographic Image Collection

At around 10:30 p.m., cameras rolled from all angles as the Neptune, one of the OceanXplorer’s three-person bubble subs, dangled from a large crane, suspended over the dark ocean. Inside, Márquez, the shark biologist, sat near Afonso, a marine ecologist, and a submarine pilot. Márquez and Afonso had never had the chance to scout for sixgills directly from a sub. Multiple cameras captured the researchers’ wide-eyed expressions as the submersible dropped into the ocean and quickly disappeared below the surface.

Step one in tagging a sixgill: Conduct a population survey in the area, where the sharks are known to convene at night after spending their days deeper in the ocean.

After Márquez and Afonso descended to a ledge more than 800 feet down, they saw something large moving past their submersible’s headlights.

“Shark, shark, shark!” Márquez called out, looking both excited and a little startled. “That’s huge. Adult. Definitely an adult. About 15 feet long.”

She could see right away that the animal was female because of the lack of claspers, or sexual organs, under its pelvic fin.

Over the course of eight hours under water, the team spotted 11 sixgills, which had traveled an estimated 1,800 feet upward to look for food. Each shark seemed to have a different temperament, with some keeping their distance and others swimming directly at, or even right below, the sub.

They were also all female, except for one juvenile male, supporting the idea that the animals may travel in single-sex groups outside of mating season.

None of the potential targets moved quickly. “She’s so sluggish,” Márquez said as one of the sharks passed by, illuminated by the light of the sub. “I guess she’s conserving her energy. And it’s cold out there; it’s only 39 degrees.”

The Deep Sea Still Has Plenty of Mysteries to Reveal. It is the largest habitat on Earth, comprising more than 95 percent of the ocean, yet remains the least explored. At the first ever United Nations Ocean Conference, in 2017, an international coalition of scientists announced its intention of using multibeam sonar to generate a detailed map of the seafloor in its entirety by 2030.

When the initiative was first introduced, only 6 percent of the seabed was mapped to an adequate resolution; that figure now is 25 percent mapped in high resolution, with more terrain being added every day.

That effort may reveal a better understanding of the seafloor, but when it comes to ocean conservation, researchers face the additional challenge of trying to protect an ecosystem that’s still not well surveyed. The vast majority of species in the ocean—by one estimate, more than 90 percent—have yet to be classified. Rather than just cataloging discoveries, ocean-exploration entities have also put effort into better relaying the wonder of the unknown. By 2019, private equity investor Victor Vescovo piloted a submersible to the lowest point of all five ocean basins, setting a record for the deepest crewed dive in history when he reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, at a depth of nearly 36,000 feet.

Great Hammerhead Sharks (at left and bottom) cruise along the seafloor in the Bahamas. Scientists are scrambling to learn more about these critically endangered creatures. The OceanX helicopter crew followed one on a stingray hunt. Photograph By Chelle Blais, Bimini Shark Lab

“We have an ability to see, hear, and sample [the ocean] in ways that we just never had before,” says Chris Scholin, the president and CEO of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, a nonprofit oceanographic organization based on California’s central coast.

Submersibles, satellites, drones, ROVs, autonomous underwater vehicles, and undersea observatories are giving scientists and explorers unprecedented access to the ocean. As a result, scientists are discovering an average of 2,000 new marine species each year.

“It’s amazing what’s happened in the last few years,” says Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to science and exploration that recently aided discovery of more than a hundred species believed to be new to science during expeditions to a seamount chain off the coast of Chile. “Things are happening, and they’re happening faster and faster. There’s been an almost exponential increase in information that we’re getting about the ocean.”

Seamounts, the mysterious mountains of the ocean, are hot spots for life like these green feather stars living on deep-sea coral at 3,000 feet, as seen in recent scientific surveys supported by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Photograph By Rov Subastian, Schmidit Ocean Institute

Other marine creatures observed include a bright red member of the sea toad family that can walk on the seafloor at 4,556 feet and the rarely seen whiplash squid at 3,625 feet. Photographs (Top & Bottom): By Rov Subastian, Schmidit Ocean Institute

One of OceanX’s goals is to telegraph the vast human health and innovation losses that may occur if important species disappear before we can learn more about them. “The ocean is just a huge library of DNA that can be exploited by humans for medical purposes, manufacturing—all kinds of things,” says Vincent Pieribone, OceanX’s co-CEO and a professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Compounds from marine life are actively being investigated for their potential as antibiotic and antiviral medications and even for components of artificial bone.

The majority of the narrative being shared right now is “the obituary of the ocean,” says Philippe Cousteau, Jr., a filmmaker, explorer, and grandson of Jacques-Yves Cousteau. “I think that has held back capturing the public’s imagination.”

After Confirming The Underwater Ledge was a feeding spot for sixgills, the team decided it was ready to tag a shark. Around midnight on another evening, the Neptune shuttled Márquez and marine ecologist Fontes back to the ledge, passing through a shoal of boarfish so dense it temporarily obstructed the bubble sub’s view.

This time, decaying fish had been secured to an extended metal rod, which projected several feet in front of the submersible to entice a sixgill. “Come on, Big Mama,” Márquez said, as if willing a shark to appear.

When the first sixgill arrived, it ignored the bait, focusing instead on a morsel that had become detached and floated to the bottom, and stayed out of range. Some time later, two more sharks appeared, with the larger one chasing off the smaller, probably to protect the new food source. At a certain point, one creature’s large, trapezoidal tail knocked the sub with an audible thump, startling everyone behind the six-and-a-half-inch acrylic hull.

The Neptune was outfitted with a laser-sighted spear gun that could fire a kind of arrow into the skin of the sixgill. Connected to the arrow was the tracker—a small, red, hard-foam package that housed a camera and other sensors capable of monitoring the animal’s speed, depth, and movements for up to 12 hours.

When the larger of the two sharks came into view, Fontes pressed a button to fire the arrow, but it shot wide, narrowly missing the moving target.

“Damn it,” he said.

Márquez grabbed her head. “I can’t believe it,” she said, before signaling that another shark was approaching. With only one arrow left, the pressure was on. This time, Fontes was able to hit the animal’s large torso. Up in the OceanXplorer’s mission control room, Stackpole, the underwater robotics technician, and Afonso watched with excitement and gave each other a high five.

Sixgills Likely Haven’t Changed Much in 200 Million Years and retain features from the Jurassic age. When the tagged shark reapproached Neptune to finish its meal, cameras captured its eyes rolling back into its head as it shook the bait. Unlike many sharks, sixgills don’t have a retractable membrane to protect the eye while hunting; instead their eyes just … roll back. For the crew, it was a visceral reminder of how different these animals are.

Because sixgills are especially buoyant, one working hypothesis for how these sharks hunt has been that they may float upward along ridgelines in the ocean, seeking silhouettes from potential prey that they can ambush.

While the show focused on the red camera tag, it was accompanied by another, more basic satellite tag that could transmit movement data for an additional nine months, allowing the researchers to continue to learn more about the species’ vertical migrations. Such underwater monitoring is important: Although scientists can catch deep-sea sharks with nets or hooks and pull them to the surface, being dragged from the deep can cause potentially fatal pressurization injuries for the creatures. Stressed animals don’t make great study subjects either, which is why scientists at OceanX want to tag them in their environment.

Once reviewed at the mission control room, the data retrieved from the tracker appeared to support the thesis about the sixgill’s hunting method. The shark would travel slowly, with short upward bursts of speed that might signal it was ambushing prey from below.

OceanX missions aren’t all focused on thrashing sharks and whales. Often they pursue the more prosaic business of mapping. While the OceanXplorer tracks sharks and films whales, the vessel is also using its own sonar array to add to the growing body of data about the seafloor. In 2019 OceanX conducted an end-to-end survey of the largest coral reef system alongside the continental United States. It also conducted yet another voyage off the Azores, in 2023, producing yet more findings on underwater seamounts and ridges to support the designation of 30 percent of the region’s economic zone waters as marine protected areas. Scientists working with OceanX have contributed to nearly a hundred research papers, on topics ranging from coral-dwelling crabs to microbial life around hydrothermal vents.

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever,” Jacques-Yves Cousteau wrote. At a time when the public’s increasingly short attention span may make it harder to digest complicated information, OceanX is trying to perpetuate that spell.

Dalio, the nonprofit’s co-founder, says he wants OceanXplorers “to be a launch, not just of a series but of a new awareness and excitement about the ocean,” adding he wants to “create a wave” that gets others involved and working together. If that can happen, he says, “we really are on the brink of a golden age for ocean exploration.”

What its scientists share with the public seems to be getting attention: OceanX has more than four million followers on TikTok.

Top: Mystery lurks beneath the waves. Greenland sharks can live for centuries, but little is known about how they hunt and survive in deep, cold Arctic waters. The OceanX crew tagged one to measure its movements. Photograph By Mario Tadinac, National Geographic

Bottom: OceanX science program director Mattie Rodrigue examines a sample on one of the ship’s high-power microscopes. State-of- the-art labs like this one seek to narrow vast knowledge gaps in marine science. Photograph By Andy Mann, OceanX

During Another Dive in the Sub, Márquez and Afonso witnessed a large sixgill skim close to the floor of the ledge. This might be attributed to the animal’s use of highly attuned electrical sensors in its head to detect movements of other creatures in the murk. But instead of seeing the feeding method their data suggested, what happened next was different. The creature quickly inverted, swinging its tail vertically above its head before swinging it back and forth to seemingly pin something against the seafloor. It could have been a ray hiding under the sand.

Back on the OceanXplorer, Márquez and the team talked over just how much that moment defied their expectations. Rather than proving one version right or wrong, the truth is more exciting: The sixgill may have different hunting tactics it can deploy.

“The data from the tag was telling us one thing,” said Márquez, “but our own eyes are telling us something completely different.” It’s an unexpected finding and a reminder of just how much remains unknown.

At Dusk One Day, the Sun Lit up the Rocky Cliffs of the Azores, and the OceanXplorer steered onward, the large vessel backlit by the dimming light that reflected across the vast ocean around it. Eventually, the ship would head back to port to refuel and start another mission, bringing on another group of local scientists to study the deep.

As the ship moved ahead, it looked small against the backdrop of the ocean, which stretched so far that it blended into the glittering horizon line. Almost every day at sea features a moment like this, when, with the right perspective, the enormous vessel suddenly looks small. When you zoom out, there’s always more ocean.

[shaysalilweird]

Xenogenders!

I uploaded these Xenogenders before (with each one having its own post), but I got anxious and deleted all of them from my blog as a result... So here they are again in one single file in case anyone actually wanted to use them!

♡

Squirmic

A Xenogender related to feeling like a worm squirming on the sidewalk on a rainy day.

Pronoun ideas:

worm/worms/wormself

squirm/squirms/squirmself

rain/rains/rainself

🪱/🪱s/🪱self

🐛/🐛s/🐛self

☔/☔s/☔self

🌧️/🌧️s/🌧️self

♡

Bateaugender

A Xenogender related to boats and the experience of being on a boat while it rocks gently with the tides.

Pronoun ideas:

boat/boats/boatself

wave/waves/waveself

tide/tides/tideself

water/waters/waterself

rock/rocks/rocksself

⛵/⛵s/⛵self

🚤/🚤s/🚤self

🌊/🌊s/🌊self

🛶/🛶s/🛶self

♡

Morzegender

A Xenogender related to seagulls, waves, marine life, and the crisp smell of sea salt.

Pronoun ideas:

sea/seas/seaself

water/waters/waterself

aqua/aquas/aquaself

wave/waves/waveself

🌊/🌊s/🌊self

🐟/🐟s/🐟self

🐠/🐠s/🐠self

🐚/🐚s/🐚self

♡

Fluffysockgender

A Xenogender related to fluffy socks and the sensory experience of wearing fluffy socks. This gender feels warm, calm, and comforting.

Pronoun ideas:

sock/socks/sockself

warm/warms/warmself

comfort/comforts/comfortself

calm/calms/calmself

🧦/🧦s/🧦self

🌡️/🌡️s/🌡️self

♡

Carnivalic

A Xenogender related to bright, colorful lights, spinny fair rides, cotton candy, funnel cakes, Ferris wheels, and a feeling of childlike joy.

Pronoun ideas:

carnival/carnivals/carnivalself

ferriswheel/ferriswheels/ferriswheelself

happy/happys/happyself

💫/💫s/💫self

🎡/🎡s/🎡self

🎠/🎠s/🎠self

♡

Calligragender

A Xenogender that can only be described as being like beautifully inscribed, flowing words written in fresh ink.

Pronoun ideas:

ink/inks/inkself

word/words/wordself

write/writes/writeself

🖋️/🖋️s/🖋️self

✒️/✒️s/✒️self

♡

I thought of these off the top of my head, so, hopefully, everything is okay and they aren't overly similar to any existing Xenogenders. I tried to do some research to make sure I wasn't copying any other genders by accident. I have no intention of stealing anyone's ideas! 😸

[aritamargarita]

Id let him steam my boat 🚢 😏🚣‍♂️⛵🚤⛴🛶⚓

WHAT??????(real.)????????????????

[captainseamech]

IC tag adjustments

Like I said before, I'm posting this again to make things better in a normal font for you guys! I apologize once again for my mistakes with fonts and stuff

Also, I may include some new tags because I forgot before

🚢 | inside the ship / ic

📘 | captain's data log / ic status

✒ | captain's diary / drabbles

⚓ | coming aboard / rp -> usually used for threads

🐟 | you're not the only fish in the ocean... / musings

🤡 | nice to 'sea'! / crack -> also used out of character when the opportunity arrives

🌊 | watching over seas / dash comm -> also used out of character when the opportunity arrives

🔎 | from another point of view / headcanons

📸 | is that me...? / visage

🦢 | it's pretty... / aesthetic

🎵 | sea shanties / music

🗒 | personal information / ic about -> changed a bit for better understanding

❓ | who's there? / starter call

🛶 | docking here / open starter

🐬 | why do I want to say 'yare'? / faceclaim

💎 | ocean man / High Tide -> used when High Tide is talking when there's Servo or Crimson Tide around, but I often forget to use this in character because I'm not used to this dgshsjsks so I use this the most with posts about him

🐾 | my rescue dog / Servo -> changed the emoji because yes

🚤 | ain't a normal 'boat' / Megabot -> used when HT is in his Megabot mode

☠ | when water turns red / Crimson Tide -> well he is another version of High Tide but I adopted him as a 'side muse' so there's his special tag

🐋 | oh that's interesting! / likes and desires

🔱 | but I'm a submarine? / shipping stuff -> probably more useful ooc