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Crinoid

A specimen like this crinoid (Pentometrocrinus sp.) was collected during Windows to the Deep 2019. The only other specimen of this organism at the Smithsonian, which archives biological samples collected during Okeanos Explorer expeditions, was collected in 1963 and was not fully intact, making this collection very important to science. This may also be the first observation of this species swimming.

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Credit

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Windows to the Deep 2019.