NEWS RELEASE New research has uncovered a change in behaviour of deep-sea fragile pink sea urchins off the south coast of Vancouver Island that is linked to climate change impacts including the “[Blob](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/news-and-stories/stories/the-warm-blob-chills-out/)”, a marine heatwave that persisted in the Pacific Ocean off North America between 2013 to 2016. Researchers from the Memorial University, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the University of Victoria (UVic) found pink sea urchins (*Strongylocentrotus fragilis*) have been moving up into shallower waters as food sources and oxygen levels at lower depths decline due to a warming ocean. The research team analyzed seven years of physicochemical and video imagery data (2013-2020) collected at Barkley Canyon Upper Slope within ONC’s [NEPTUNE observatory](https://www.oceannetworks.ca/observatories/physical-infrastructure/cabled-networks/), along with 14 years of Fisheries and Oceans Canada trawl surveys, covering a 760-square kilometre area in the northeast Pacific Ocean. The data from NEPTUNE’s Barkley Canyon Upper Slope platform (depth 396 metres) included video cameras, oxygen sensors, and tools that monitor water currents and water physical properties.