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Deep Sea & Marine-Life Surprises

F

floyd23a1

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Interesting article from bbc online regarding new species found in deepwater near New Zealand.

Article is

here

I particularly like the fangtooth that rests its teeth in sockets to prevent it spearing its own brain and the wonky eyed squid.

Cheers

Floyd.
 
Wonky-eyed Squid??? That's like a joke animal, isn't it? Like our short-legged sheep?
 
The strangest thing I ever saw a picture of was a worm that lived at the dark depths where temperature and pressure were such as to permit solid methane. If you can immagine this thing living in the solid methane, it was like a big shagworm with little tenticle projections into the hydrocarbon ice. It looked like some alien brain sucking parasite.
 
Fenris said:
The strangest thing I ever saw a picture of was a worm that lived at the dark depths where temperature and pressure were such as to permit solid methane. If you can immagine this thing living in the solid methane, it was like a big shagworm with little tenticle projections into the hydrocarbon ice. It looked like some alien brain sucking parasite.
Click to expand...

Do you have the picture?
 
New Scientist did an article a few weeks ago on a newly discovered species called Collosal Squid, which isn't that much longer than Giant Squid but has a much more substantial body and thicker tentacles with suckers and claws on them.
 
The worms are called Hesiocaeca Methanicola and were discovered in 1997.
Some pictures can be found at http.//www.science.psu.edu/iceworms/iceworms.html

Unfortunately none of these pictures seem to be the one I remember but you will get the idea
 
By a coincidence I just finally tonight got around to watching a tape of the BBC Blue Planet series episode called "The Deep" where you see the fangtooth which must have been discovered at least in 2001/2(?) when the series was shown, and the methane feeding creatures as well as many other amazing creatures.
 
i remember seeing pictures of the fangtooth in my childhood (30 yrs ago, sadly). i guess what they did now is they found a new species belonging to that genus (or vice versa)
 
The creatures they found were amazing, not keen on the spider though, yuuuk. Can't help feeling uncomfortable that they have to kill all these creatures just to photograph them though..

There is an article in this months Focus magazine about the collosal squid, it is pretty fearsome, the one they found was a juvenile but they reckon it can grow up to 13 meters long (inc tentacles).
Here is an article with photos
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2910849.stm

Makes you wonder what else lies out there undiscovered
 
New IMAX Documentary

Just opening in Los Angeles now, everything I've read about sounds stunning. If you live near an IMAX theater you might keep an eye out for it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
_
July 17, 2003
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“VOLCANOES OF THE DEEP SEA” WORLD PREMIERE SET FOR CALIFORNIA SCIENCE CENTER’S IMAX® THEATER ON
SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
Film opens to the public on September 14, 2003
_
The most astounding place on Earth is now a giant screen film! 12,000 feet down, life is erupting. Miles beneath the surface of the sea, in environments of crushing pressure, extreme temperatures and toxic water, strange communities of life are thriving. Volcanoes of the Deep Sea transports you there via the giant screen. The film is the result of the largest effort ever undertaken to film the creatures and habitats of these extreme depths.

On the trail of a mysterious life form, scientists board the deep-sea submersible Alvin and dive two miles down to the crest of the Mid-Ocean Ridge (the longest mountain chain on the planet). As their investigation on the Ridge unfolds, the film reveals the world of the hydrothermal vents: volcanic landscapes of towering "black smoker" chimneys, of giant tubeworms and other sulfur-loving creatures.
Driven by the planet's internal heat and chemistry, life in these worlds of darkness, is denser than anywhere else on Earth. Join the adventure and discover wonders that few have ever seen.

A dramatic first—equipped with the IMAX camera and a state-of-the-art underwater lighting system, the production team for Volcanoes of the Deep Sea completed more than 20 dives in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The two-year expedition has revealed with unprecedented clarity, the true richness and diversity of the Deep Ocean – the last pristine wilderness on Earth.

Volcanoes of the Deep Sea

Director, Stephen Low; Narrator, Ed Harris; Executive Producer, James Cameron.
Producers, Pietro L. Serapiglia and Alexander Low; Science Director, Richard Lutz; Director of Photography, William Reeve; Music Composed by Michel Cusson; Associate Producer / Film Editor, James Lahti. Volcanoes of the Deep Sea is a production of The Stephen Low Company and Rutgers University. Major funding for the project is provided by the National Science Foundation.
_
When: Volcanoes of the Deep Sea World Premiere
Tuesday evening, September 9, 2003 (By invitation only)

The film opens to the public on Sunday, September 14, 2003 (Film length: 40 minutes)
_ _
Where: California Science Center IMAX Theater
700 State Drive – Exposition Park, Los Angeles.
Enter visitor parking lot at 39th & Figueroa Street; parking is $6.
Both the Science Center and IMAX Theater are wheelchair accessible.
_ _
Tickets: Ticket prices for IMAX films range from $4.50 to $7.50. Call 213.744-7400 for information. For advance ticket purchase and group rates, phone (213) 744-2019.
 
There's a thread on colossal squid somewhere here abouts.

Ed Harris narrating that IMAX, eh?

He may have said he'd never work with Jimmy-boy Cameron ever again, but he doesn't mind doing work he gets off the back of that film he did with him.
 
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New fish from Brazil

Here, I guess. The picture at the link is pretty wild looking.



New fish species discovered off Brazil

Friday, June 18, 2004 Posted: 6:28 AM EDT (1028 GMT)

Hydrolagus mattallansi, which Brazilian scientists claim is a new fish species, is believed to have lurked deep in the south Atlantic Ocean for over 150 million years.


RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Brazilian scientists claimed to have found a new fish species believed to have lurked deep in the south Atlantic Ocean for over 150 million years.

The fish, of the Chimaera genus, is about 30-40 centimeters (12-16 inches) long and is found at depths of 400 to 600 meters (1,300 to 2,000 feet), scientists said Thursday.

"This is a fantastic discovery, because before this we believed there were no Chimaera off the Brazilian coast," said ichthyologist Jules Soto, who discovered the fish.

Soto is the curator of the Oceanography Museum at the Vale do Itajai University and co-author of the fish's scientific description, which will be published in the upcoming edition of the U.S. scientific journal Zootaxa.

Soto said the fish was discovered on a Spanish fishing boat trawling off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state in 2001.

Soto said his students first photographed the Chimaera aboard the vessel as part of a research project, but they were unaware of the fish's importance and threw it back in the ocean.

Soto realized the significance of the discovery while examining the photographs.

"I could see right away it was a very different animal, just from the shape of the fins," Soto said by telephone from Santa Catarina state, 450 miles (700 kilometers) southwest of Rio de Janeiro.

It took Soto and his team two more years to locate more specimens and to complete the scientific work needed to prove it was a new species.

The fish, which Soto has named Hydrolagus mattallansi, has a snub nose, winglike side fins, a spiky back fin and stinger tail. It is closely related to sharks and skates.

The Chimaera can sense the presence of other animals by scanning the electromagnetic field around it, but it also has large eyes that can sense even the smallest bit of light, Soto said.

Ichthyologists called the new Chimaera an "important discovery."

"Deep water fish have been little studied here and it's very difficult to get information about that environment. The sad thing is that environment is being devastated by industrial fishing so species new to science are likely disappearing even before they are discovered," said Adriano Lima, an Ichthyologist at Rio de Janeiro's National Museum.

Scientists have identified about 25,000 fish species in the world but suspect there may be as many as 40,000 yet to be discovered.

Soto said it was rare that such a large vertebrate animal should be undiscovered but that the deep waters off Brazil's coast have not been extensively explored.

He claimed to have discovered three other new species that he is still in the process of describing.

Chimaera evolved 400 million years ago during the Devonian Period and are one of the oldest fish species alive today.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.



http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/06/18/brazil.newfis.ap/index.html
 
Published online: 29 July 2004; | doi:10.1038/news040726-10

Bone-devouring worms discovered

Amanda Leigh Haag

Deep-sea species may have completely new form of metabolism.

Two worm species discovered in the dark recesses of the deep sea could rival the macabre beasts of your childhood nightmares. Scientists have named a new genus, Osedax, which is Latin for "bone devourer", for worms that thrive by excavating the bones of fallen whale carcasses.

The worms contain bacteria that help them digest the fats and oils of the whale skeletons. This type of symbiotic relationship has never been seen before, and may represent a completely new type of metabolism.

Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing, California, discovered a whale skull that was "carpeted with worms" while searching for clam beds in the trough of Monterey Canyon, some 3,000 metres deep.

But the worms were like nothing they had ever seen before. The females - roughly the thickness of a pencil and a few centimetres in length - lack eyes, mouths or stomachs. Instead they consist of a balloon-like egg sac, which branches into a greenish root system.

These branching roots grow into the whalebone to extract fats and oils from the marrow. Symbiotic bacteria that live inside the roots break down the lipids, but how nutrients are transferred from the bones to the bacteria and then to the worms is not yet known.

Radical metabolism

Scientists have been studying "whale falls" - areas where fallen whalebones have concentrated along the migratory paths of whales - for the past 15 years. But until now, all the organisms found at whale falls have used 'chemotrophic' bacteria to help them capture energy from the sulphide-rich swamps that build up around whalebones. This is the same type of metabolism used by species found at hydrothermal vents. These bacteria gain their nutrition from the sulphide- and methane-enriched waters resulting from volcanic activity at the sea floor.

The new worms are the first animals known to exploit bacteria that break down lipids - akin to the bacteria found in oil seeps.

"It is one of the most novel uses of bacteria by invertebrates that we've seen to date," says Shana Goffredi, a marine biologist from MBARI, who reports the find in Science this week1. "It has driven the evolution of this animal. The worm has modified its body in order to accommodate the symbionts," she says.

Distant relative

Scientists were at a loss to identify the worms based on their strange anatomy, but analysis of their DNA has revealed that the worms are distant relatives of the giant tubeworms that characterize hydrothermal-vent communities. The researchers determined that the two new species diverged about 42 million years ago, which is about the same time that whales first evolved.

The worm has modified its body in order to accommodate the symbionts
Shana Goffredi
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Click to expand...

"The implication is that these worms were doing this job on other whale bones quite some time ago," says Bob Vrijenhoek, an evolutionary biologist from MBARI who is one of the authors on the paper. "This is not some recent invention."

Sperm factories

There were more surprises to come. The researchers have also found that whereas female worms are several inches in length, males are little more than microscopic threads, which seem to act as nothing more than sperm factories. A female worm can sweep up to 100 males at once into her egg sac, where fertilization occurs.

Goffredi speculates that the sex a larva develops into is determined when it is floating around in the water searching for something to land on. If the larva encounters a clear patch of whalebone, it becomes a female. But if there is no place for the larva to land except on another female, it does the next best thing and becomes a male, to provide that female with sperm.

References
Rouse G. W., Goffredi S. K. & Vrijenhoek R. C. Science, 305. 668 - 671 (2004).
Click to expand...

http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040726/full/040726-10.html
 
Bone devouring worms?? Fantastic!!

I have had this report lying aorund and this seems an ideal palce for it:

Posted 6/25/2004 11:47 AM Updated 6/27/2004 12:35 PM

Deep part of Arctic Ocean holds previously unknown forms of life

ANCHORAGE (AP) — An ice-covered, deep part of the Arctic Ocean, which is believed to hold the world's oldest seawater, is being scoured by scientists taking an inventory of aquatic life in the Arctic, the least-documented ocean on the planet.

A small sampling for the inventory, financed by a 0,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced Thursday, has already found at least five new species as well as creatures previously unknown to the two-mile-deep Canada Basin, north of Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

Many species in the basin's chilled depths are thought to have lived in isolation for millions of years. Through the inventory, biologists, physicists and geologists from more than 50 countries hope to learn more about the genetics of species that can survive in such extreme conditions.

Researchers say melting polar ice gives urgency to the project, part of a decade-long,
Posted 6/25/2004 11:47 AM Updated 6/27/2004 12:35 PM

Deep part of Arctic Ocean holds previously unknown forms of life

ANCHORAGE (AP) — An ice-covered, deep part of the Arctic Ocean, which is believed to hold the world's oldest seawater, is being scoured by scientists taking an inventory of aquatic life in the Arctic, the least-documented ocean on the planet.

A small sampling for the inventory, financed by a $600,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced Thursday, has already found at least five new species as well as creatures previously unknown to the two-mile-deep Canada Basin, north of Alaska and the Yukon Territory.

Many species in the basin's chilled depths are thought to have lived in isolation for millions of years. Through the inventory, biologists, physicists and geologists from more than 50 countries hope to learn more about the genetics of species that can survive in such extreme conditions.

Researchers say melting polar ice gives urgency to the project, part of a decade-long, $1 billion global survey called the Census of Marine Life. The census also is planning to inventory the Antarctic Ocean. (Related Web site: Arctic Ocean biodiversity)

Past studies have yielded a surprisingly diverse collection of species — about 5,000 known multicellular ones — that live in arctic waters, according to researchers.

"It is certainly not the desert people thought it to be," said Russ Hopcroft, a marine ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the project headquarters.

"We need to begin paying more attention to biodiversity in the arctic, which is more vulnerable to climate change because of its multiyear ice cover," Hopcroft said. "There are animals here that are uniquely adapted to that ice cover. If the arctic continues to lose ice each summer, these animals could become extinct, not to mention overall changes."

Since the mid-1970s, the winter ice pack in the arctic has decreased 2% to 3% each decade, said Rolf Gradinger, a UAF sea ice ecologist participating in the study. Scientists say that without large ice masses, which reflect the sun's rays into the atmosphere, the earth absorbs more heat, contributing to further warming. Ice also serves as a platform for walrus and seals.

"When the ice cover disappears, you lose an important environment," Gradinger said. "Changes in sea ice produce a domino effect."

Researchers also plan to look at the mouths of rivers in Russia and Canada that pour an estimated 2 trillion tons of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean each year. Climate change could bring more runoff, changing species composition.

Among challenges facing the arctic project are finding and paying for the use of ice breakers, usually scheduled at least two years in advance, researchers said. August trips are planned, however, on Russian and Canadian vessels already scheduled for unrelated endeavors.
Click to expand...
billion global survey called the Census of Marine Life. The census also is planning to inventory the Antarctic Ocean. (Related Web site: Arctic Ocean biodiversity)

Past studies have yielded a surprisingly diverse collection of species — about 5,000 known multicellular ones — that live in arctic waters, according to researchers.

"It is certainly not the desert people thought it to be," said Russ Hopcroft, a marine ecologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the project headquarters.

"We need to begin paying more attention to biodiversity in the arctic, which is more vulnerable to climate change because of its multiyear ice cover," Hopcroft said. "There are animals here that are uniquely adapted to that ice cover. If the arctic continues to lose ice each summer, these animals could become extinct, not to mention overall changes."

Since the mid-1970s, the winter ice pack in the arctic has decreased 2% to 3% each decade, said Rolf Gradinger, a UAF sea ice ecologist participating in the study. Scientists say that without large ice masses, which reflect the sun's rays into the atmosphere, the earth absorbs more heat, contributing to further warming. Ice also serves as a platform for walrus and seals.

"When the ice cover disappears, you lose an important environment," Gradinger said. "Changes in sea ice produce a domino effect."

Researchers also plan to look at the mouths of rivers in Russia and Canada that pour an estimated 2 trillion tons of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean each year. Climate change could bring more runoff, changing species composition.

Among challenges facing the arctic project are finding and paying for the use of ice breakers, usually scheduled at least two years in advance, researchers said. August trips are planned, however, on Russian and Canadian vessels already scheduled for unrelated endeavors.
Click to expand...

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/coldscience/2004-06-25-arctic-ocean-life_x.htm
 
What astonishes me about the oceans (and as a total water baby, I love the things) is that there are species that have been known about for a long time that have either only recently been seen alive (the oarfish), or have NEVER been seen other than as cadavers (giant squid). If the only evidence we've got for these is corpses, imagine how many large species there might be out there that are totally unknown.

Maybe the Kraken will wake ...
 
Scientists Discover New Marine Habitat In Alaska

Scientists Discover New Marine Habitat In Alaska

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/09/040922074204.htm

PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, Alaska -- While researchers in Alaska this summer used high-tech submersibles and huge ships to plumb the deep-ocean depths in search of new species, a team of scuba diving scientists working from an Alaska fishing boat has discovered an entirely new marine habitat just a stone's throw from shore.

The discovery in June of a single bed of rhodoliths, colorful marine algae that resemble coral, was made near Knight Island in Prince William Sound by scientists at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (SFOS). Rhodolith beds have been found throughout the world's oceans, including in the Arctic near Greenland and in waters off British Columbia, Canada. But they have never been documented in Alaska waters.

"This is exciting because it represents a new type of habitat scientists had not identified before in Alaska," said Brenda Konar, associate professor of marine biology at SFOS and staff scientist with the West Coast and Polar Regions Undersea Research Center at UAF.

Rhodoliths belong to a group known as coralline red algae that deposit calcium carbonate within their cell walls to form hard structures that closely resemble beds of coral. But unlike coral, rhodoliths do not attach themselves to the rocky seabed. Rather, they drift like tumbleweeds along the seafloor until they grow heavy enough to settle and form brightly colored beds. And while corals are animals that filter plankton and other organisms from the water for food, rhodoliths produce energy through photosynthesis.

Globally, rhodoliths fill an important niche in the marine ecosystem, serving as a transition habitat between rocky areas and barren, sandy areas. Rhodoliths provide habitat for a wide variety of species, from commercial species such as clams and scallops to true corals. The discovery of rhodoliths in Alaska is likely to fuel the debate over the protection of seafloor habitats.

"Now that we found them, we want to find more of these beds and learn precisely what their role in the Alaska marine ecosystem is," said Konar.

Mike Foster, professor emeritus at Moss Landing Marine Laboratory in California, has studied the global distribution of rhodoliths, and is the author of numerous scientific papers on the subject. He says the discovery of rhodoliths in Alaska marks an important milestone in scientists' understanding of coralline algae.

"If these beds are anything like those elsewhere in the world, they are likely critical habitat for associated species, and there are probably more new species in them than just the rhodoliths," said Foster. "Such discoveries also send an important message about how little we know about the sea."

The discovery came after Konar and Katrin Iken, assistant professor of marine biology with the university's Institute of Marine Science, accidentally dropped a small strainer, or sieve, overboard. The scientists had been conducting nearshore surveys of marine life as part of an international study sponsored by the Census of Marine Life NaGISA program and funded by the Gulf Ecosystem Monitoring program.

"A sieve is worth about $75, so we wanted to get it back," said Konar. "We descended into about 60 feet of water and found the sieve right away. But then I noticed these little pink tumbleweeds everywhere. I thought I was looking at a rhodolith bed, but rhodolith beds had never been described in Alaska. We were shocked to see how many there were down there."

Konar said she knew right away the find was significant. She'd seen rhodoliths in places like Baja California, Mexico. But in her more than 15 years of diving Alaska waters, she had never come across them.

"The biggest ones may have been about the size of a ping-pong ball, but many were smaller. They have lots of branches that come out of a centerpiece. They look like toy jacks, except they are pink. It was a very large bed, at least 60 meters (197 feet) long. It was very exciting."

Konar and Iken collected several rhodolith specimens and sent them to Rafael Riosmena-Rodriguez, an internationally recognized marine taxonomist who specializes in identifying rhodoliths. During the past several months, Riosmena-Rodriguez conducted a number of tests aimed at identifying the rhodoliths at his laboratory at the Marine Botany Program at Autonomous University of Baja California Sur in La Paz, Mexico. Some of the tests involved slicing the specimens into thin sections and comparing their structure and reproductive parts to a global database of known rhodolith species.

"I believe we have at least two rhodolith species in the samples I received," said Riosmena-Rodriguez. "One species is Phymatolithon calcareum. This species is widely distributed in the North Atlantic Ocean."

While scientists agree that ocean currents are key to distributing rhodoliths around the world, debate centers on where P. calcareum originated. Riosmena-Rodriguez says the species may have actually originated in Alaska waters. More research on the species' evolutionary history is needed to be sure.

The other rhodolith specimen collected by Konar and Iken is potentially a species new to science.

"It does not seem to match anything we have seen," said Riosmena-Rodriguez.

Riosmena-Rodriguez said the as-yet unidentified species is similar to a type of rhodolith found in eastern Canada, called Lithothamnion glaciale. But in important ways the Alaska rhodolith is different.

"It has very large conceptacles, the reproductive structures," explained Riosmena-Rodriguez. "And the thallus is very thin. This is something unique that you don't find in very many species."

Riosmena-Rodriguez said additional samples and further testing are needed to confirm whether the second species is indeed new.

Scientists believe rhodoliths have been present in the world's oceans since at least the Eocene epoch, some 55 million years ago. Because rhodoliths probably grow very slowly in Alaska's cold waters, Riosmena-Rodriguez said they probably have been in Alaska a very long time, perhaps long enough to have evolved into an entirely new species.

While they search for funding to look for and identify additional rhodolith beds, Konar, Iken, and Riosmena-Rodriguez will submit a scientific paper on their discovery to a marine journal. And if one of their rhodoliths turns out to be a new species, they'll have the honor of naming it.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here:

http://www.uaf.edu/news/headlines/20040916081255.html
 
Bottom-dwelling marine life found in Ga.

Three possible new species known as sea squirts


The Associated Press
Updated: 9:04 a.m. ET Nov. 9, 2004

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Researchers working off coastal Georgia have discovered what could be three new species of bottom-dwelling creatures known as sea squirts.

The diminutive creatures — also known as tunicates — were recently found at Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, a reef 17.5 miles east of Georgia's Sapelo Island.

Two of the sea squirts — one orange-colored with vein-like designs running through it and another spherical with evenly-spaced holes — are about four inches in size. The third is about the size of a grape.

Marine biologist Danny Gleason of Georgia Southern University made the discovery, along with four of his students, but has turned to a tunicate expert to help determine whether the animals are truly new to science.

If that proves to be the case, Sanamyan will publish descriptions of the new animals and have the honor of bestowing their names on the creatures.

Gleason and the students came across the sea creatures over the summer while working under a special permit needed to collect invertebrates in the sanctuary.

"It's amazing how little we know of the Earth," he said. "I think that's the great thing about science — you discover new things all the time."

Tunicates are members of a broad class of living creatures called chordates that, at some time during their lifecycles, share physical features, including neural cords that run the length of their bodies.

Gleason and other Georgia Southern scientists have been collecting and photographing invertebrates at Gray's Reef for an online field guide. So far, 350 specimens have been documented.

----------------
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
Click to expand...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6442026/
 
New life forms found in NZ deep sea volcanos
17.11.2004 - 3.00pm

Scientists on the first deep-sea investigation of underwater volcanos in New Zealand believe they have discovered many new types of creatures previously unknown to humankind.

The Geological and Nuclear Sciences Ltd (GNS) exploration of the deep sea floor was the first in a manned submersible in New Zealand, and investigated the Brothers volcano, 400km northeast of White Island and 1800m below the sea.

In an 18-day expedition involving four eight-hour dives at two sites, the scientists used a Japanese-operated Shinkai 6500 submersible to collect geological samples and sea floor creatures for analysis in New Zealand.

"We saw scores of chimneys, some six metres tall, each containing thousands of tonnes of metal," said GNS project leader Dr Cornel de Ronde.

At one of the sites, 300degC fluids were pumping out of chimneys forming dense plumes of black smoke.

Minerals in the chimneys included iron, copper, lead and zinc.

Biological samples taken included shrimp, scale worms, crabs, eel-fish, limpets, and tube worms -- the first time the species had been recorded in New Zealand territorial waters.

The scientists believe that up to 30 per cent of the creatures they collected might never have been investigated before.

Among the creatures recovered using the submersible's robotic arms were "colonies of heat-loving micro-organisms that may have potential future applications in pharmaceuticals, in bioremediation of contaminated sites, and in biomining" GNS said in a statement.

[...]

- NZPA
©Copyright 2004, NZ Herald
Click to expand...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3611233&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
 
Deep Sea Fish (and other creatures)

I was searching around and stumbled across a great collection of truly bizarre deep sea fish and other creatures here:

Geiger meets Lovecraft all beneath the waves:

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19383

NOTE: Don't touch this link without broadband, it's a message board thread that is seriously image heavy.

Some others (more suited for slower speeds):

http://mdf1.mail15.com/Tatui.jpg

http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... erfish.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... onfish.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... r_crab.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... spider.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... _squid.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... gunard.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... _shell.jpg
http://alexkorol.home.comcast.net/refer ... obster.jpg

Edit: This page has a good overview of life in the aphotic zone: http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/efc_mbh/dsc.asp?bhcp=1

Division of the ocean into zones (for reference):

Epipelagic (from the surface down to around 200 metres) - the illuminated surface zone where there is enough light for photosynthesis, and thus plants and animals are largely concentrated in this zone. Here one will typically encounter fish such as tuna and many sharks.

Mesopelagic (from 200 metres down to around 1000 metres) - the twilight zone. Although some light penetrates this deep, it is insufficient for photosynthesis.

Bathypelagic (from 1000 metres down to around 4000 metres) - by this depth the ocean is almost entirely dark (with only the occasional bioluminescent organism). There are no living plants, and most animals survive by consuming the snow of detritus falling from the zones above, or (like the marine hatchetfish) by preying upon others. Giant squid live at this depth, and here they are hunted by deep-diving sperm whales.

Abyssopelagic (from 4000 metres down to above the ocean floor) - no light whatsoever penetrates to this depth, and most creatures are blind and colourless. The name is derived from the greek abyss meaning bottomless (a holdover from the times when the deep ocean was believed to be bottomless).

Hadopelagic (the deep water in ocean trenches) - the name is derived from hades, the classical greek underworld.

(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagic_zone)
 
beakboo said:
Have you just been listening to Radio 4? Coincidence if not, they've just had a programme about William Beebe, who pioneered the use of the bathysphere in the 1930s, discovering all kinds of creatures in the process.
http://hometown.aol.com/chines6930/mw1/beebe1.htm
Click to expand...

Yup. It's always on. Fascinating programme.

Listen again here (Adventures of Beebe and the Bathysphere):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

For a short while only.

edit: Not deep sea, but when i have the funds this collection of underwater water photography looks sumptuous.

http://www.petrinos.gr/book/

Some examples of the content in the 'gallery' section:

http://www.petrinos.gr/gallery/
 
That's one of my favorite pages on the entire internet, Yith! I found it a few months ago somehow by looking up "weird art" in google. I meant to post it in this forum, though some of creatures look like they'd fit in well at the ufology forum.

For anyone who can't see the first link because it's too heavy most of the same pictures can be found here at Creature Feature.

Also, here are some really good photos of lumious organisms.

And, here are some good photos of nudibranches, sea dragons and other beautiful creatures: http://www.divegallery.com/
 
Ocean life, definity one of the most interesting topics there is, in my opinion. There are such amazing creatures in the ocean that we already know of, and to think that SO MUCH of the ocean has not yet been explored and we don't know what lives there, amazing. Learning about the life in the ocean is like learning about life on another planet. There are creatures down there that just seem unbelievable, but they're real! It makes me want to become a deep sea diver. :mrgreen:
 
Anyone see this one on the Ghoststudy site? It looks kind of like a puffer fish:

http://www.ghoststudy.com/monthly/oct04/mill.htm

I'm especially fond of this photo, because two months before it was posted, I had this awesome dream featuring a cartoon version of this thingy in the picture, smiling at me from up in the sky. :D
 
:smokin: . . . . . looks around . . . . . what? Ghost skyfish . . . . . what?
 
I recieved an e-mail recently that said all those weird and wonderful looking fish were found on the beach in Phuket and had been washed up there after the tsunami.
I don't know whether that was true or not but those were some odd looking fish.
And an all time fave methane-ice worms.
http://www.science.psu.edu/iceworms/Bwworm.gif
 
Bannik said:
And, here are some good photos of nudibranches, sea dragons and other beautiful creatures: http://www.divegallery.com/
Click to expand...

Cheers for that Bannik. Only just got a chance to look at that last one - some weird and wonderful creatures. No sign of my current favourite though: the Fu Manchu Lionfish.

Ridiculously intricately decorated.

Here we go:

fu_manchu_lionfish.jpg
 
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