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\n By ISABEL DEBRE and VICTOR R. CAVIANO<\/b> with AP<\/b>\n<\/p>\n
\n Published on
\n 06\/08\/2025 – 8:00 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
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Transparent-faced fish drift through dusky waters. Snow-like flecks of dead plants sift down from the world above. Soft sponges peek through the soot of the seafloor. Only occasional mutters among marine biologists break the thick silence.<\/p>\n
Somehow, this livestream of sea life<\/strong><\/a> in the South Atlantic has Argentines hooked.<\/p>\n The researchers behind this remotely operated vehicle filming lifeforms 4,000 metres undersea told The Associated Press on Monday that they never expected their wonky deep-sea expedition to become such a social media sensation.<\/p>\n The video feed has attracted more than 1.6 million views a day on YouTube, dominated TV news broadcasts and even sparked a national conversation about the defunding of Argentine science under libertarian President Javier Milei.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a huge surprise for us,\u201d said expedition leader Daniel Lauretta. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that fills our hearts because we want to spread the word.\u201d<\/p>\n Orange starfish and hairy crabs have viewers hooked<\/p>\n Outfitted with high-definition cameras and state-of-the-art sensors, the roving robot captures the enigmatic organisms of Mar de Plata’s submarine canyon with exceptional clarity and detail for the first time.<\/p>\n The region, where the warm current from Brazil meets the cold current coming up from the Falkland Islands, is known for its little-studied biodiversity.<\/p>\n In dives lasting around eight hours a day, the camera encounters an array of surprising creatures lurking in the inky depths<\/strong><\/a> off the coast of Buenos Aires: An orange starfish so bright it drew comparisons to Patrick of \u201cSpongeBob SquarePants\u201d cartoon fame, a sea cucumber viewers nicknamed \u201csweet potato\u201d, and a deep-sea crab that looked like a hairy spider.<\/p>\n \u201cThe colours, the zoom capability \u2013 that really amazed me,\u201d Lauretta said. \u201cI think that feeling reached the public, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Often peaking at some 50,000 simultaneous viewers, the livestream from the deep-sea research vessel kicked off last week and runs until 10 August.<\/p>\n Argentine researchers and American experts from the nonprofit of former Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt, the Schmidt Ocean Institute Foundation, use the vehicle to map the underwater gorge, collect samples and identify scores of new species<\/strong><\/a> at a depth below the reach of sunlight. Here, scientists have only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to understanding marine life.<\/p>\n Few viewers have been able to resist the impulse to anthropomorphise the featured life-forms, assigning zodiac stars to invertebrates and sharing social media quizzes along the lines of \u201cWhich deep-sea creature are you based on how you handle stress?\u201d (If you ignore the world, you\u2019re a translucent squid; if you explode with anger, you\u2019re apparently a pistol shrimp.)<\/p>\n \u201cArgentines are very passionate about everything that happens in Argentina,\u201d said Georgina Valanci, 40, her eyes fixed on floating translucent fish while crocheting on Monday. \u201cI think it represents a bit of the pride that something like this is being done in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Shining a light on slashed research funding<\/p>\n Most Argentine researchers on the expedition come from Conicet, Argentina\u2019s leading scientific funding and research body. And the livestream is shining a light on the institute’s work at a moment when its funding is under attack.<\/p>\n