Trinidad and Tobago's first locally led deep-sea expedition maps cold seeps and suspected new species
A July 2026 expedition aboard R/V Falkor (too), led by Trinbagonian scientists, completed the first locally run comprehensive deep-sea survey of Trinidad and Tobago, mapping 13% of uncharted seafloor and finding 25 cold seeps with dozens of potentially new species.
A month-long July 2026 expedition aboard R/V Falkor (too), led by Trinbagonian scientists with chief scientist Dr. Diva Amon, was the first locally led and most comprehensive deep-sea survey of Trinidad and Tobago, locating over 25 active cold seeps, discovering at least 20 suspected new species including three possibly new genera, mapping roughly 11,335 square kilometers — about 13% of the country’s uncharted seafloor — and recording 54 species never before seen in the nation’s waters, Schmidt Ocean Institute reported on August 25, 2026.
That level of local scientific leadership marks a shift in how deep-sea exploration is conducted in the region, with the cruise’s planning and chief science role held by researchers from the country whose maritime territory was being mapped, rather than by visiting international teams alone.
The numbers were independently confirmed by an editorial report published August 26 by Daniel Graham, which verified the same 20 suspected new marine species — among them an octopus, corals, carnivorous sponges, and squat lobsters — together with 54 species never before observed in Trinidad and Tobago’s waters, 25 cold seep ecosystems, and more than 11,335 square kilometers of uncharted seafloor mapped aboard RV Falkor (too).
Cold seeps are habitats where hydrocarbon fluids sustain communities of organisms independent of sunlight, and finding more than two dozen active ones in a single survey indicates a previously undocumented extent of such ecosystems on the country’s continental margin. The suspected new genera among the 20 candidate species imply that some of these communities may host taxonomic branches not yet described by science.
What makes the expedition notable beyond the species counts is the ownership of the process. Previous deep-sea surveys of Trinidad and Tobago had not been locally led; here the survey’s design and execution rested with Trinbagonian researchers, even though the vessel itself was the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Falkor (too). That distinction turns a data-collection cruise into a capacity-building milestone.
The mapped area, while only about 13% of the uncharted seabed, provides the first high-resolution baseline for a nation whose deep ocean was effectively a blank space on biological maps. Both reports agree that the July 2026 cruise did not just add species to a list but rewrote the starting point for Caribbean deep-sea research.