A team of ocean scientists and engineers from Lehigh University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are developing revolutionary new ways to study the biodiversity of deepwater ecosystems - with eDNA. eDNA, or environmental DNA, is free-floating genetic material that organisms leave behind in the water column, an almost invisible sign of their presence. Aboard NOAA Research Vessel Manta, eDNA was filtered and collected from seawater in the deep Gulf of Mexico, near Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. With the use of eDNA as a more effective and less disruptive methodology, these scientists are unlocking the secrets of the deep ocean, and the incredible variety of animals that live there, one drop of seawater at a time.

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Video produced by Allison Albritton (Ocean Allison), Outreach Specialist; courtesy of Lehigh University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research.


This expedition was funded by the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research to Lehigh University, in collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Ocean Twilight Zone Project, funded as part of The Audacious Project housed at TED.

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