Scientific research team members recover the abyssal lander biotrap system on June 8, 2017 in the Yap Trench operation area. On the same day, research team members of the China Ocean 38 Voyage successfully collected a batch of hook shrimp and two lionfish samples on the 7,000-meter seafloor while recovering the abyssal lander biotrap system in the Yap Trench operation area.

Lionfish are a biological species characteristic of the abyss, and they usually live in the abyssal zone from 6,000 meters to more than 8,000 meters. During its deep dive in the Mariana Trench during this voyage, the Jiaolong captured images of two lionfish swimming at close range on the 6,000-meter seafloor. The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) abyssal research team has also obtained several lionfish samples from the 7,000-meter seafloor in the Marianas Trench and the Yap Trench through the lander.

In the Yap Trench operation area, the team members mainly carry out surveys on abyssal biological communities and deep-sea genetic resources, and reveal the interaction mechanism between biological communities and the abyssal environment. Chen Xinhua, chief scientist of this section, said the acquisition of lionfish and hook shrimp samples will help understand the mechanisms of abyssal biological evolution and their extreme environmental adaptations.

The 8,000-meter abyssal lander recovered on the 6th collected small hooked shrimp, but this time there are both large and small hooked shrimp, and more than one species; 2 lionfish about 20 centimeters long. These fish and shrimp living in the abyssal zone under enormous pressure and low temperature environment, have died when they reached the surface.