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Deep Sea & Marine-Life Surprises

Man is greedy, and when i say man, i mean the human race, i aint a feminist
 
Scientists have recently begun to recognise the importance of "whale fall" to ocean-floor ecosystems.

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Octopi, crabs, various fish, and Osedax bone-eating worms feast on a whale fall in the Pacific off the California coast. There's a video of this find at:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/10/17/whale-fall-carcass-california-noaa-orig-mss.cnn
 
This is just fascinating. Amazing stuff goes on under the surface...

Mesmerising Underwater Blob Is Actually a Huge, Rare Mass of Squid Eggs


A strange, undulating blob found in the waters of Ørstafjorden in Norway has turned out to be a rare sight: a giant mass of squid eggs.

The otherworldly ball, floating mysteriously in the darkness of the fjord, was discovered by captain Nils Baadnes and diver Ronald Raasch with the research vessel REV Ocean. It wasn't long before they learnt what it was.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/an-ama...ned-out-to-be-a-gelatinous-ball-of-squid-eggs
 
Rare angel sharks found living off Wales

Sightings from fishing boats suggest the mysterious angel shark is present in Welsh waters, although no-one knows exactly where. The shark's only established stronghold is the Canary Islands, where the animals have been filmed on the seabed. Wales could be a key habitat for the critically endangered shark, which is from an ancient and unique family. "If we lose the angel shark, we lose a really important lineage of evolutionary history that we can't get from any other shark species," Joanna Barker, of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), told BBC News.

Source:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46972070
Ok, now man knows where they are they will become extinct as well goodbye Angel shark
 
Is it possible these angel sharks are the angels of an already extinct shark species?
 
This ghostly giant is a rare sight. But in November 2021, MBARI researchers spotted this giant phantom jelly (Stygiomedusa gigantea) with the ROV Doc Ricketts 990 meters (3,200 feet) deep in Monterey Bay. The bell of this deep-sea denizen is more than one meter (3.3 feet) across and trails four ribbon-like oral (or mouth) arms that can grow more than 10 meters (33 feet) in length. MBARI’s ROVs have logged thousands of dives, yet we have only seen this spectacular species nine times. The giant phantom jelly was first collected in 1899. Since then, scientists have only encountered this animal about 100 times. It appears to have a worldwide distribution and has been recorded in all ocean basins except for the Arctic. The challenges of accessing its deep-water habitat contribute to the relative scarcity of sightings for such a large and broadly distributed species. Historically, scientists relied on trawl nets to study deep-sea animals. These nets can be effective for studying hardy animals such as fishes, crustaceans, and squids, but jellies turn to gelatinous goo in trawl nets. The cameras on MBARI’s ROVs have allowed MBARI researchers to study these animals intact in their natural environment. High-definition—and now 4K—video of the giant phantom jelly captures stunning details about the animal’s appearance and behaviors that scientists would not have been able to see with a trawl-caught specimen.

 
This ghostly giant is a rare sight. But in November 2021, MBARI researchers spotted this giant phantom jelly (Stygiomedusa gigantea) with the ROV Doc Ricketts 990 meters (3,200 feet) deep in Monterey Bay. The bell of this deep-sea denizen is more than one meter (3.3 feet) across and trails four ribbon-like oral (or mouth) arms that can grow more than 10 meters (33 feet) in length. MBARI’s ROVs have logged thousands of dives, yet we have only seen this spectacular species nine times. The giant phantom jelly was first collected in 1899. Since then, scientists have only encountered this animal about 100 times. It appears to have a worldwide distribution and has been recorded in all ocean basins except for the Arctic. The challenges of accessing its deep-water habitat contribute to the relative scarcity of sightings for such a large and broadly distributed species. Historically, scientists relied on trawl nets to study deep-sea animals. These nets can be effective for studying hardy animals such as fishes, crustaceans, and squids, but jellies turn to gelatinous goo in trawl nets. The cameras on MBARI’s ROVs have allowed MBARI researchers to study these animals intact in their natural environment. High-definition—and now 4K—video of the giant phantom jelly captures stunning details about the animal’s appearance and behaviors that scientists would not have been able to see with a trawl-caught specimen.

Nasty looking thing, I wonder how venomous it is?
 

I spy with my barreleye, a new Fresh from the Deep! During a dive with our education and outreach partner, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the team came across a rare treat: a barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma). MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles Ventana and Doc Ricketts have logged more than 5,600 successful dives and recorded more than 27,600 hours of video—yet we’ve only encountered this fish nine times! The barreleye lives in the ocean’s twilight zone, at depths of 600 to 800 meters (2,000 to 2,600 feet). Its eyes look upwards to spot its favorite prey—usually small crustaceans trapped in the tentacles of siphonophores—from the shadows they cast in the faint shimmer of sunlight from above. But how does this fish eat when its eyes point upward and its mouth points forward? MBARI researchers learned the barreleye can rotate its eyes beneath that dome of transparent tissue. Aquarist Tommy Knowles and his team were aboard MBARI’s R/V Rachel Carson with our ROV Ventana to collect jellies and comb jellies for the Aquarium’s upcoming Into the Deep exhibition when they spotted this fascinating fish. The team stopped to marvel at Macropinna before it swam away. MBARI is working with the Aquarium to bring the deep sea to you next spring. Into the Deep will bring you face-to-face with deep-sea denizens like bloody-belly comb jellies, bubblegum corals, and Japanese spider crabs.
 
Ghostly eel-like sea beast that's almost totally transparent

Amy Wainman, 36, from Cape Town, was swimming off Simon’s Town in South Africa’s Western Cape when she captured the bizarre creature on camera.

In Amy’s footage, the creature - whose transparent body appears to be devoid of any major organs - is seen undulating through the water. Amy said it was unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

“When I first saw it, it almost looked like some floating plastic,” she said.
Bradley Stevens, a retired marine science professor, formerly of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, has suggested that the footage shows an eel larva at the end of its larval stage.

However Kevin Kocot, an associate professor at The University of Alabama specialising in invertebrate zoology, believes it’s actually a “very unusual” type of jelly.

“This is a cestum veneris, a very unusual comb jelly or ctenophore.

“Most comb jellies are more-or-less rounded in shape and swim with ‘combs’ – rows of cilia – but this species (and one other in the family) swims by undulating muscles like a ribbon.”
Video at link.

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I spy with my barreleye, a new Fresh from the Deep! During a dive with our education and outreach partner, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the team came across a rare treat: a barreleye fish
ah yes, the rare and elusive STOP LOOKING AT ME
Images of telescopefish garner the same reaction. It's like my brain thinks the things are always looking at me; I guess since it has no pupils to tell your brain what it is focusing on, and that's ticking over some flight reaction.
 
Just up from Gresham College, a lecture on the history of the deep sea biology/exploration, and how our conceptions of that habitat have been shaped by technical innovations:

 
Everybody knows octopuses/octopodes are amazing.

Here's a video of an octopus being amazing.

Dancing at a depth of around 1,600 meters (5,250 feet), this elegant octopus measures an estimated 1.3 m (4.2 ft) long and entertained our watch team for more than five minutes. “It’s really putting on a show for us,” said a researcher as the cephalopod made its way toward Hercules’ camera, expanding its billowing arms like a circus tent blowing in the wind. Experts believe the octopus belongs to Cirroteuthidae, a family of cirrate octopuses, but the exact species is unknown. “Of the recognized species, it is closest to Cirrothauma magna. However, we know of several undescribed species and this could be one,” said invertebrate zoologist Mike Vecchione. Little is known about Cirroteuthid octopuses other than that they often swim or drift near the seabed at depths of over 2,000 m (6,600 ft) where light does not penetrate the cold waters. Because of their hard-to-reach habitat, catching a glimpse of these cephalopods is made possible through specialized technologies like those employed aboard the E/V Nautilus. The team spotted the delicate octopus while exploring Southwest Baker Island in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which makes up one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. Just north of the equator, Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll surrounded by a rich diversity of marine life.

Learn more about this expedition: https://nautiluslive.org/cruise/na114

 
NOAA researchers hauled up a see-through gelatinous fish with a "suction cup" on its belly ...

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Bizarre translucent 'Jell-O fish' pulled up from icy depths in Alaska

A bizarre-looking translucent, gelatinous fish with an unusual suction cup on its belly made a surprise appearance for a group of scientists who were studying the deep sea near Alaska.

The odd animal is a blotched snailfish (Crystallichthys cyclospilus), a seafloor-dwelling creature that lives exclusively in the North Pacific and can survive more than 2,723 feet (830 meters) below the ocean surface. Researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stumbled upon this squishy weirdo while trawling off the coast of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska as part of a routine survey of the deep sea ecosystem there. On June 19, NOAA scientist and expedition crew member Sarah Friedman shared a photo of the blotched snailfish ...

The fish's body is "very gelatinous" and felt like "holding a lump of Jell-O," Friedman told Live Science in an email. "This is thought to be an adaptation to maintain neutral buoyancy and efficiently swim while coping with the crushing pressure of the deep sea," she added. ...

Blotched snailfish have bodies that are almost entirely see-through — apart from their eyes, stomachs and dark spots on their skin. This adaptation helps them to stay hidden from predators. ...

Like several other species of snailfish, blotched snailfish have modified fins on their bellies that form a suction cup. "This allows them to easily attach to rocks and corals on the ocean floor and avoid expending the energy to constantly swim around, particularly in strong currents," Friedman said. ...
FULL STORY" https://www.livescience.com/translucent-jell-o-fish
 
Everybody knows octopuses/octopodes are amazing.

Here's a video of an octopus being amazing.

Dancing at a depth of around 1,600 meters (5,250 feet), this elegant octopus measures an estimated 1.3 m (4.2 ft) long and entertained our watch team for more than five minutes. “It’s really putting on a show for us,” said a researcher as the cephalopod made its way toward Hercules’ camera, expanding its billowing arms like a circus tent blowing in the wind. Experts believe the octopus belongs to Cirroteuthidae, a family of cirrate octopuses, but the exact species is unknown. “Of the recognized species, it is closest to Cirrothauma magna. However, we know of several undescribed species and this could be one,” said invertebrate zoologist Mike Vecchione. Little is known about Cirroteuthid octopuses other than that they often swim or drift near the seabed at depths of over 2,000 m (6,600 ft) where light does not penetrate the cold waters. Because of their hard-to-reach habitat, catching a glimpse of these cephalopods is made possible through specialized technologies like those employed aboard the E/V Nautilus. The team spotted the delicate octopus while exploring Southwest Baker Island in the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which makes up one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. Just north of the equator, Baker Island is an uninhabited atoll surrounded by a rich diversity of marine life.

Learn more about this expedition: https://nautiluslive.org/cruise/na114

That made my day. Cosmic cool. Yet more evidence that we are not alone.
 
The sea is where it's at, baby!

The First Video of an Extremely Rare Jellyfish

https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/08/spotted-jellyfish-papua-new-guinea/
There have been only two documented sightings of the elusive Chirodectes maculatus, a large, soccer ball-sized jellyfish with distinct spotted markings, the second of which was captured late last year by divers from Scuba Kavieng. In what is believed to be the first recording, the video shows the extremely rare animal, which has four clusters of striped tentacles, rings covering its body, and a pulsing patch of red on its bell that’s likely a digestive cavity, as it swims near the coast of Papua New Guinea.
 
Only eight sightings and smaller than I had supposed.

The fangtooth, or ogrefish, has extra-long, sharp teeth and a face only a mother could love. This fierce-looking fish actually gets no bigger than the average adult human hand. The fangtooth is found in meso- and bathy-pelagic waters worldwide. Dark skin and scales provide camouflage in these dim ocean depths, assisting them with catching prey (fish, shrimp, and squid) and avoiding hungry predators (tuna and marlin). Their prominent lateral line system detects water movement and compensates for poor eyesight and low light conditions. The fangtooth has been spotted just eight times in the past 30 years of MBARI ROV expeditions. Common name: Fangtooth or ogrefish Scientific name: Anoplogaster cornuta Reported depth range: 500 meters (1,650 feet) to 2,100 meters (7,000 feet) Size: up to 18 centimeters (7 inches).

 
Researchers surveying the Caribbean seafloor discovered multiple specimens of a "blue goo" creature they couldn't identify or even classify.

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Mysterious 'blue goo' at the bottom of the sea stumps scientists

Unidentified deep-sea "blue goo" creatures recently left scientists scratching their heads after they spotted the mysterious blobs hanging out on the seafloor in the Caribbean. During a live stream ... , team members discussed what the gloopy globules could be, but none of the researchers could come up with a definitive answer.

Multiple blue goo creatures were sighted Aug. 30 by scientists controlling a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) near the seafloor surrounding St. Croix, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The mysterious blobs were discovered sitting motionless on the seafloor between 1,335 and 2,005 feet (407 and 611 meters) beneath the water's surface.

Researchers piloted the ROV from onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) research vessel Okeanos Explorer, which has spent the last four months investigating sections of the North Atlantic as part of NOAA's "Voyage to the Ridge 2022" exploration series. As with every other dive during these expeditions, the footage was live streamed by NOAA for deep-sea enthusiasts from around the world to enjoy.

During the live stream, researchers spotted and zoomed in on one of the unusual blue creatures and began discussing what it could be. Some observers noted that it was likely to either be a soft coral or sponge, and potentially even a tunicate — gelatinous marine invertebrates that are sometimes referred to as sea squirts. The team suggested a number of potential nicknames, including "bumpy blue thing," "blue biomat" and "blue goo." ...

The expedition members could only agree on what the mysterious creature was not.

"I can tell you it's not a rock, but that's as far as I can go," one researcher joked. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/mysterious-blue-goo-deep-sea
 
‘Forest of the weird’ found on submerged volcano

In 2017, on a submerged volcano a mile and a half underwater in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a team of scientists were left gasping in wonder at a scene they called the “forest of the weird”.
Instead of trees, the forest was made up of oddly shaped corals, including some that resembled frizzy bottlebrushes (Rhodaniridogorgia) and others that were flattened and harp-shaped (Narella) with leggy, pink brittlestars, relatives of starfish, wrapped around their branches.
The corals were dotted among glass sponges. One, Aspidoscopulia, looked like a frilly white petticoat caught in a breeze, hoisted aloft on a zigzag stalk. But perhaps the most intriguing was a glass sponge on tall stalks, with what looked like a melon-shaped head with two holes, reminiscent of goggly eyes. This species was nicknamed “the ET sponge”, after the eponymous character in Steven Spielberg’s hit movie. In 2020, it was given the scientific name Advhena magnifica – the magnificent alien.

Sponges may look like plants but they are in fact simple animals. They have no face, brain, heart, muscles or any other kind of body organ. Most of them spend their lives stuck to the seabed, straining tiny floating particles of food through their spongy bodies.

The ET sponge had been seen only once before, a year earlier, thousands of miles to the west near the Mariana Trench. A specimen was taken to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where the postdoctoral researcher Cristiana Castello Branco immediately knew she was looking at something different. “It’s a unique shape,” she says.
video at link.

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