When taxonomist Keider Neves stepped foot on the Pisces VI class submarine in November 2023, a sense of excitement and trepidation greeted him: “It was the first time I’ve been on a submarine. It was part of our training so we only went to 30 metres depth, but it was amazing.”
Neves is part of the team of researchers participating in the Ocean Census Macaronesia Tenerife Submersible and Diver Expedition. Onboard the Pisces submersible, he will descend to depths of up to 300 metres in the Radazul area. With the aid of the submersible’s robotic arm, collection devices and instruments, and a collection basket, he and his fellow aquanauts will gather samples of marine organisms, rocks, and sediment. “This is an opportunity to go way deeper, to see a world that few people have ever seen and make new discoveries,” says Neves. With any luck, those discoveries will include new species of decapods and stomatopods.
Read Decrypting Tenerife’s crustacean community with Keider Neves at Ocean Census.