Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration and Immersion Presents are divisions of Sea Research Foundation, Inc., a private, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to advancing oceanographic exploration and marine life education, conservation and research.

Challenge of the Deep

What vast areas are inaccessible and locked in eternal darkness? The Institute for Exploration's Challenge of the Deep exhibition center is dedicated to revealing what lies on the deep ocean floors of the world.

Undersea mountain ranges that dwarf their terrestrial counterparts, active volcanoes and lava pools, unique animals and ghostly shipwrecks inhabit this dark world. Experience a journey to the ocean floor interpreted through the history of ocean exploration!

Through cutting-edge exhibit technology, discover the remains of the RMS TITANIC, hydrothermal vents on the seafloor and fascinating artifacts recovered from Roman trading ships.

Find out why remotely-operated-vehicle (ROV) systems revolutionized deep-sea exploration.

Learn how the discovery of previously unknown concentrations of life near undersea geysers may relate to the possible existence of life elsewhere in the universe.

Challenge of the Deep presents interactive displays, artifacts and findings from IFE's most recent expeditions off the continental shelf of the Eastern United States, in the Mediterranean, in the Black Sea, and beyond, where Dr. Ballard and his team are pioneering archaeology in deep-water environments.