Photo taken on June 15, 2019 shows Discovery, a remote operated vehicle aboard KEXUE, returning from the sea in western Pacific Ocean. China's research vessel KEXUE (Science) finished its investigation of seamounts in the west of the Pacific Ocean and started to sail back on Saturday evening. KEXUE is scheduled to arrive in Xiamen of China's Fujian Province on June 23. (Photo: Xinhua)

 

China's research vessel KEXUE (Science) sails at night in western Pacific Ocean on June 15, 2019. China's research vessel KEXUE (Science) finished its investigation of seamounts in the west of the Pacific Ocean and started to sail back on Saturday evening. KEXUE is scheduled to arrive in Xiamen of China's Fujian Province on June 23. (Photo: Xinhua)

 

Photo taken on June 15, 2019 shows the sponge collected by Discovery, a remote operated vehicle aboard KEXUE, in western Pacific Ocean in a recent dive. China's research vessel KEXUE (Science) finished its investigation of seamounts in the west of the Pacific Ocean and started to sail back on Saturday evening. KEXUE is scheduled to arrive in Xiamen of China's Fujian Province on June 23. (Photo: Xinhua)

 

Photo taken on June 15, 2019 shows the corals and a starfish collected by Discovery, a remote operated vehicle aboard KEXUE, in western Pacific Ocean in a recent dive. China's research vessel KEXUE (Science) finished its investigation of seamounts in the west of the Pacific Ocean and started to sail back on Saturday evening. KEXUE is scheduled to arrive in Xiamen of China's Fujian Province on June 23. (Photo: Xinhua)

 
China's research vessel KEXUE (Science) finished its investigation of seamounts in the west of the Pacific Ocean and started to sail back on Saturday evening.

During the expedition, Discovery, a remote operated vehicle aboard KEXUE, made 19 dives and captured more than 800 collections of biological samples, including corals, sponges, shrimps and shellfishes.

"There are about 250 species in the collections, amounting for the total species we had collected in two expeditions in past few years," said Xu Kuidong, chief scientist aboard and a researcher of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

These samples will help scientists to research biological diversities, ecological systems and biological of the seamounts, according to Xu.

Besides, Discovery photographed some "seabed gardens" with colorful corals, sponges and brittle stars in the seamounts, which are hardly seen in tropical zone of the western Pacific Ocean.

KEXUE is scheduled to arrive in Xiamen of China's Fujian Province on June 23.