invertebrates | Deep Sea News

Experience the Life of the Deep Gulf of Mexico in 20 Videos

Dr. M — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 17:59:55 +0000

As we prepare for our 2019, Gulf of Mexico, Deep-Sea, Wood-Fall Collection, Research Cruise Spectacular from February 11th-24th, enjoy these videos from our 2017 expedition. Also follow us on Instagram and Twitter under hashtag #woodfall to keep updated on our upcoming cruise.

A brittle star demonstrates its unusual walking pattern. See this post for the science behind this walking.

Chimaeras are cartilaginous fish also known as ghost sharks, rat fish, spookfish or rabbit fish. In paleo-oceans, chimaeras were both diverse and abundant while today they are largely only found in the deep sea. While their closest living relatives are sharks, they last common ancestor was nearly 400 million years ago.

An unknown small black fish. Most of the species in the deep oceans have yet to be seen or even officially named by scientists.

Another unknown small black fish…of course I’m no ichthyologist.

A comb jelly dangles its long sticky tentacles searching for prey. The flickers of light are from cilia plates that lines its body and are reflecting light as opposed to bioluminescence.

A sea cucumber munches on mud lazily as two whip corals move gently in the current.

A deep-sea red crab throughs up a defensive posture against the ROV before finally retreating. Note the white barnacles attached on the shell of the crab.

A fast moving Giant Isopod tries to avoid the ROV. This is largest roly-poly on Earth! For reference, the laser points are 9 inches (22.86 cm) apart.

This glass sponge, a Venus’ Flower Basket, holds to commensal shrimp inside its structure.

Several fly-trap anemones are attached to a piece of a shipwreck. Animals that filter-feed out of the water often look for high perches to get up into stronger currents above the seafloor.

The unusual fish, Ipnops, a predator that feeds on molluscs and crustaceans in the sediment. The eyes are extremely modified into flat, cornea-like organs that cover most of the upper surface of the head. Ipnops are also hermaphrodites possessing simultaneously both female and male gonads in a single organ.

Purplebelly Skate known primarily from the deep Gulf of Mexico

The pelagic and gelatinous deep-sea cucumber, Enypniastes. You can see its intestinal track in yellow.

Slurping up the same Enypniastes with the ROV Hoover attachment. You can see here that the cucumber is quite small in comparison to the ROV arm.

Ignore the fact that we lost one of the lasers on the dive and enjoy this absolute unit of deep-sea cucumber.

The amazing tripod fish. Tripod fish, a sit-and-wait predator, seem to prefer being perche dup on their elongated fins rays in the tail and two pelvic fins. They face upstream with the pectoral finds turned toward forward with the fin rays resembling antenna dish. Indeed, it is a dish as fin rays are tactile organs.

A Giant Isopod almost swims into our benthic elevator.

Even at two kilometers deep and 200 kilometers offshore, there is evidence of human impact. Here a blue plastic bag wisps across the ocean floor like an amorphous deep-sea animal.

Aluminum cans are frequent feature of the deep oceans.

And another can.

The post Experience the Life of the Deep Gulf of Mexico in 20 Videos first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The Fantastical Beasts of the Deep Gulf of Mexico

Dr. M — Fri, 16 Jun 2017 02:17:40 +0000

I recently returned from nearly two weeks at sea with a motley and intrepid crew exploring the Gulf of Mexico almost a mile and half deep. You can read up on our adventures on our Reddit AMA. The main goal was to deploy nearly 200 wood falls on the deep-sea floor. The work, funded by the National Science Foundation, seeks to examine how marine organisms respond to changing food supplies as a result of climate change. Wood falls in the deep sea offer up nice little experimental systems in which to test ideas. The work was conducted with a remote operated vehicle and allowed us the opportunity to explore the amazing creatures found in the deep Gulf of Mexico. Below is both an amazing set of photos taken on the surface by the talented photographer Jason Bradley, part of the expedition, and a host photos taken by the scientists and ROV team with the 4K camera aboard Oceaneering’s Global Explorer.

The post The Fantastical Beasts of the Deep Gulf of Mexico first appeared on Deep Sea News.

6 times an invertebrate punched a vertebrate in the face (and it was awesome)

Dr. M — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 05:35:43 +0000

A guest post from Katie Thomas, a graduate student at Duke University researching the evolution of bioluminescence in squids. (@katiethomas10)

For those of us who love the spineless weirdoes of the ocean, it can get old always hearing about the dolphins and the whales, the sharks and the fish and the turtles that everyone loves so much (and that have a disproportionate representation in our culture: just think of all that Lisa Frank swag from the nineties).

Yes, that’s a young Mila Kunis with her Lisa Frank dolphin. But where is the Lisa Frank siphonophore?

Fellow invert nerds, please enjoy these gifs of invertebrates punching vertebrates in the face.

1. Giant isopod vs. shark

You’ll never look at your backyard pill bug the same way again.

2. Sand Striker vs. fish

Not exactly in the face, but it’ll get there eventually.

3. Giant Pacific octopus vs. shark

Aquarium brawl

4. Mantis shrimp vs. fish

Don’t mess with a mantis shrimp. Stabby stabby.

5. Sea stars and nemerteans vs. seal

Ok, not exactly punching in the face, but eating the face which is just as awesome. Nom nom.

6. Octopus vs. cat

The post 6 times an invertebrate punched a vertebrate in the face (and it was awesome) first appeared on Deep Sea News.

“Icy Inverts” 2013 Cruise – Scientific Adventures in Antarctic Waters

Holly Bik — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:01:13 +0000

Genomics, Biodiversity, and Antarctica – three of my favourite things! For all you expedition junkies, these three things are exactly the focus of the 2013 “Ivy Inverts” cruise. My Gulf oil spill collaborator at Auburn University, Ken Halanych (along with an international team of students and colleagues), is currently steaming towards Antarctica aboard the Research Vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer. I have not yet been to Antarctica, so I always follow these awesome cruises with much jealousy. Although my California-weakened body notes that it does look pretty damn cold…

Ken described the project (funded by the US National Science foundation) in a recent e-mail:

We left Punta Arenas Chile Jan 1st, 2013 and arrive into McMurdo Station, Antarctica Feb 7th. The purpose of this cruise is to study genetic patterns of biodiversity in the Bellingshausen, Amundsen and Ross Seas. These are some of the most remote waters on the planet. Given the rapidly changing environment in this region due to climate change, we also want to establish an understanding of where different species currently occur.

You can follow their cruise on Twitter (@Icy_Inverts_AU and @CMU_Antarctica), and find more information at the websites listed below. Just remember guys, Cabin Fever and/or extended periods of sleeplessness DO NOT MIX WELL with Tweeting.

Blog/web pages:

Icy Inverts 2013 – Shipboard Blog

Icy Inverts 2013 – Project portal at Auburn University

Biology in Antarctica – Project portal at Central Michigan University

YouTube video describing the project:

Auburn University – Icy Inverts 2013 – sorry DSN readers, I couldn’t embed the video here because of the privacy settings :(

The post “Icy Inverts” 2013 Cruise – Scientific Adventures in Antarctic Waters first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Who You Calling Spineless?

Miriam Goldstein — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:08:56 +0000

Fantastic new INVERTEBRATE POWER anthem from UK band the Internauts. H/t @daumari.

The post Who You Calling Spineless? first appeared on Deep Sea News.

We are the 99%

Alistair Dove — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:21:50 +0000

The post We are the 99% first appeared on Deep Sea News.

NE Pacific Expedition Day 8 & 9

Kevin Zelnio — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:58:21 +0000

[mappress]

Yellow feather star (comatulid crinoid). Photo courtesy of MBARI.

We dove Wednesday on North Cleft (45.030268, -130.182166), a massive ravine over 100 meters deep and a few hundred meters wide formed by the spreading of the Juan de Fuca and Pacific Plates. At 2.5 kilometers depth, we explored three inactive hydrothermal vents, the tallest being 15 meters high, roughly the height of a 4-story building. As active vents these structures provided the raw materials of life to dense communities possessing several phyla, today we only saw hints of the communities that once were. Rusticles, iron stalagtites, hung off the extinct vents lending an eerie atmosphere to the scene. We quantified the communities on a lava flow dated to 1986 and a much older but yet to be dated lava flow. These are the next data points in our analyses of exploring how these communities shift through time.

A major storm in North Pacific drove us south on Wednesday, forcing us to abandon two more dives on the Cleft segment scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Instead we opted for additional dives on the President Jackson Seamount and the Gorda Ridge, which will keep us well out of the storm’s path. With deep-sea exploration you always count on lost days at sea due to equipment or weather. Contingency plans are prepared well in advance, and adjusted on the fly, to maximize our time and science on seafloor.

Chris Mah happy as a urchin in ethanol collecting echinoderms in the NE Pacific. Photo courtesy of MBARI.

On Thursday, we conducted the first of two dives on the President Jackson Seamounts. Our first dive (42.819173, -128.16031) began in a caldera floor. By dive’s end, we finished on the caldera wall nearly 300m shallower than we started. Unlike our previous dive sites with jagged landscapes of hardened lava, the caldera floor was smooth with sediment collected over the many 100’s of years since this was geologically active. This is the land of echinoderms. In retrospect not so atypical for the deep sea or our dive sites so far, but I am amazed nonetheless by their tremendous densities. We saw our first barnacles today. Attached to rocks with their goose-like necks, from the distance their numbers suggest meadows of wildflowers. Yellow, white, orange, and pink corals hung on the caldera rim strategically placing their polyps off the bottom into better currents for feeding. We saw a massive 14-armed seastar nearly one meter across perched on volcanic rubble. My first gastropod of the trip was a highlight and, after the many kilometers of seafloor we have traversed, a welcome friend. Well… a welcome friend you remove from their natural habitat, cage, transport through the most extreme conditions, and then place in a jar with alcohol. The other Dr. M. hauled in echinoderms disparate in color, function, and form with many potentially new to science. Today’s dive reminded me both of the wonder of the deep and the creator’s inordinate fondness for invertebrates.

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Creatures from the Sewer

Dr. M — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:36:28 +0000

The latest viral video is from the sewer under Cameron Village in Raleigh, NC. The mysterious creatures found are nothing short of disgusting and spectacular. This video has made its way to Video Sift and various cryptozoology sites. Speculations on the nature of this creature run from bryozoans, cnidarians, slime molds, and some mysterious alien creature here to suck out our brains. Well let me say first that it is none of the above. I can think of no freshwater Cnidarian that looks anything like this. It lacks the characteristic delineations that would indicate individual zooids in the colony and frankly the retracting of finger-like tentacles doesn’t seem like a bryozan characteristic (see the pictures at this site). In fact, I have poked a lot of invertebrates as lab instructor for invertebrate zoology and as a graduate student just for shits and giggles and none of the mentioned candidates would respond like this. So back to square one…

You shouldn’t trust me however…you should trust an expert in one of the aforementioned groups. Enter stage right Dr. Timothy S. Wood who is an expert on freshwater bryozoa and an officer with the International Bryozoology Association. I sent along the video and this was his reponse…

Thanks for the video – I had not see it before. No, these are not bryozoans! They are clumps of annelid worms, almost certainly tubificids (Naididae, probably genus Tubifex). Normally these occur in soil and sediment, especially at the bottom and edges of polluted streams. In the photo they have apparently entered a pipeline somehow, and in the absence of soil they are coiling around each other. The contractions you see are the result of a single worm contracting and then stimulating all the others to do the same almost simultaneously, so it looks like a single big muscle contracting. Interesting video.