The Albatross
For some reason, our first research vessel was named “Albatross” or Ahodori in Japanese. Although some parts of the Ogasawara Islands focus on breeding albatrosses and black-footed albatrosses, they are not often associated with the Marine Center, yet somehow our vessel name became “Albatross”. Our center research staff has nicknamed it “Alba”, for short.
The Archelon III
Archelon is a giant sea turtle that lived during the Mesozoic Cretaceous period (140 million to 65 million years ago) with an ancestor identical to the present-day sea turtle. With a carapace length of 3.3 meters, it is larger than the largest leatherback turtle presently known. However, it became extinct during the Oligocene period of the Cenozoic Era. The “Arche” for short, which has been replaced up to its third generation, is active in research around Chichijima.