A livestream of deep sea creatures transfixes Argentina

Somehow, this livestream of sea life in the South Atlantic has Argentines hooked.

The researchers behind this remotely operated vehicle filming life-forms 4000 metres under sea told The Associated Press on Monday that they never expected their wonky deep-sea expedition to become such a social media sensation.

The video feed has attracted more than 1.6 million views a day on YouTube, dominated TV news broadcasts and even sparked a national conversation about the defunding of Argentine science under libertarian President Javier Milei. 

"It was a huge surprise for us," said expedition leader Daniel Lauretta. 

"It's something that fills our hearts because we want to spread the word." 

Outfitted with high-definition cameras and state-of-the-art sensors, the roving robot captures the enigmatic organisms of Mar de Plata's submarine canyon with exceptional clarity and detail for the first time. 

The region, where the warm current from Brazil meets the cold current coming up from the Falkland Islands, is known for its little-studied biodiversity.

In dives lasting around eight hours a day, the camera encounters an array of surprising creatures lurking in the inky depths off the coast of Buenos Aires: An orange starfish so bright it drew comparisons to Patrick of "SpongeBob SquarePants" cartoon fame, a sea cucumber viewers nicknamed "sweet potato," a deep sea crab that looked like a hairy spider. 

"The colours, the zoom capability — that really amazed me," Lauretta said. 

Often peaking at some 50,000 simultaneous viewers, the livestream from the deep-sea research vessel kicked off last week and runs until August 10. 

Argentine researchers and American experts from the nonprofit of former Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt, the Schmidt Ocean Institute Foundation, use the vehicle to map the underwater gorge, collect samples and identify scores of new species at a depth below the reach of sunlight, where scientists have only begun to scratch the surface when it comes to understanding marine life. 

Few viewers have been able to resist the impulse to anthropomorphise the featured life-forms, assigning zodiac stars to invertebrates and sharing social media quizzes along the lines of "Which deep sea creature are you based on how you handle stress?" (If you ignore the world, you're a translucent squid; if you explode with anger, you're a pistol shrimp.)

"Argentines are very passionate about everything that happens in Argentina," said Georgina Valanci, 40, her eyes fixed on floating translucent fish while crocheting on Monday. 

Most Argentine researchers on the expedition come from Conicet, Argentina's leading scientific funding and research body, shining a light on the institute's work at a moment when its funding is under attack.

President Milei has taken his bureaucracy-slashing chainsaw to Argentine research projects and grants, curbing science spending as a part of a broader drive to eliminate Argentina's chronic fiscal deficit and bring down inflation. 

State-backed science organisations have lost 4000 positions in the last year and a half — a combination of layoffs, frozen contracts and resignations over poor working conditions and low pay.

Many warn that the measures are setting off a brain drain.

Seizing on the surge of public excitement about Conicet, researchers have called for a 48-hour nationwide strike on Wednesday to draw attention to their plight. 

Although Milei has not commented on the livestream, his allies have expressed disdain.

"They should livestream an offshore drilling operation instead," said Alejandro Álvarez, an official in Milei's government, referring to growing crude production in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale formation — an oil boom that Milei hopes can help revive the nation's crisis-stricken economy. 

"It's a beautiful process of wealth creation and natural resource exploitation that will make Argentina greater."

In the meantime, Argentines seem content to be mesmerised by orange starfish.

Australian Associated Press