Entanglement is one of the primary anthropogenic threats to the North Atlantic right whale ( Eubalaena glacialis ; right whale) whose habitat overlaps fixed-gear fishing grounds in the Northwest Atlantic with entanglements representing around half of the mortality and serious injury incidents. Right whale mortality has reached levels that require intervention under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, creating the need for a tool...

Hydrothermal vents can serve as natural laboratories to study speciation processes due to their fragmented distribution, often with geographic barriers between habitats. Two sympatric species of Rimicaris shrimps occur at vents on the Izu‐Bonin‐Mariana volcanic arc: Rimicaris loihi also occurs near Hawai’i and R. cambonae is present on the Tonga Arc. These two species biogeographically co‐occur and are genetically similar, rai...

Lotic fish species distributions are frequently predicted using remotely sensed habitat variables that characterize the adjacent landscape and serve as proxies for instream habitat. Recent advancements in statistical methodology, however, allow for leveraging fish assemblage data when predicting distributions. This is important because assemblage composition likely provides better information about instream habitat compared to...

The abyssal ocean covers more than half of the Earth’s surface, yet remains understudied and underappreciated. In this Perspectives article, we mark the occasion of the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin’s increased depth range (from 4500 to 6500 m) to highlight the scientific potential of the abyssal seafloor. From a geologic perspective, ultra-slow spreading mid-ocean ridges, Petit Spot volcanism, transform faults, and subductio...

Growing human activity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) is driving increasing impacts on the biodiversity of this vast area of the ocean. As a result, the United Nations General Assembly committed to convening a series of intergovernmental conferences (IGCs) to develop an international legally-binding instrument (ILBI) for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity of ABNJ [the biodiversity...

The characterization of evolutionary and biogeographical patterns is of fundamental importance to identify factors driving biodiversity. Due to their widespread but discontinuous distribution, deep‐sea hydrothermal vent barnacles represent an excellent model for testing biogeographical hypotheses regarding the origin, dispersal and diversity of modern vent fauna. Here, we characterize the global genetic diversity of vent barna...

Seamounts are considered to play a defining role in the evolution and diversity of marine fauna, acting as ‘stepping‐stones’ for dispersal, regional centers of genetic isolation and speciation, and refugia for deep‐sea populations. This study focused on the patterns of dispersal and genetic connectivity of four seamount ophiuroid species ( Asteroschema clavigera , Ophiocreas oedipus , Ophioplinthaca abyssalis , and Ophioplinth...