The SponGES field season just begun and our team from the Uppsala University went off in the Kosterfjord searching for the deep-sea sponge Geodia barretti. The Kosterfjord is part of the Kosterhavet National Park, the first Swedish marine national park established in 2009.

The team, consisting of Uppsala University researcher Paco Cardenas and PhD student Karin Steffen, left from the marine station at Tjärnö on board of the RV Nereus. Aided by a small ROV, they successfully collected G. barretti in a depth range between 88 and 94 m. This material will support various genetic, reproduction and morphology studies.