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After a two-week expedition off the coast of Brazil, an international team of researchers discovered 31 new marine species, including a fast-moving gossamer worm, a creepy fish, and other organisms that look like they came straight from outer space. Take a look and learn more about some of the newly discovered creatures living in the depths of the southern Atlantic Ocean.
This is a new species of the genus. Tomopteriscommonly known as gossamer worms. Tomopterids spend their entire lives in the water column, living just below the surface at more than 4,000 meters. Little is known about their lives despite previous studies of their unusual, bright yellow bioluminescence. The expedition’s scientific team tested new technology that provides scientists with new, non-invasive ways to study these extraordinary animals. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute.
The mission focused on the mid-ocean, the part of the ocean below the water surface and above the seafloor. It is between 600 and 3,300 feet deep and is the least understood ecosystem on Earth, even though it is teeming with life. The immense pressure of the water makes it extremely difficult to study.
This juvenile glass squid, collected by ROV Auction 779 meters deep in the South Atlantic, was photographed in R/V Falkor (also) using a prototype multi-view macro camera system developed through a collaboration between Dr Jan Hemmi (University of Western Australia, the MBARI Bioinspiration Laboratory and Dr Karen Osborn (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History). The system allows scientists on board to quickly document the finer details of an animal from three directions at once. This data collection reduces disturbance to the animal and captures anatomical, color and postural details that are lost in a matter of minutes to hours once the animal is picked up. Image: Emily Clark / MBARI via Schmidt Ocean Institute Emily Clark / MBARI via Schmidt Ocean Institute
“Earth’s largest habitat, midwater, is full of incredible animals that we are only beginning to understand,” Karen Osborn, the expedition’s chief scientist, said in a statement. “I continue to be fascinated by the fantastic range of solutions they have developed to survive in this formidable environment, and that drives me to continue asking questions about our ocean.”
The scientific team documented these fish larvae at a depth of 966 meters during a dive with the SuBastian remote-controlled vehicle. Dr. Marcelo Melo of the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo in Brazil specializes in the taxonomy and evolution of deep-sea fish; You will try to match this baby form with the adult form that the animal will eventually grow into. SuBastian ROV Image / Schmidt Ocean Institute
The Schmidt Ocean Institute research vessel (R/V) Falkor (also) He tackled the problem with a series of high-tech tools: an underwater robot called Sebastiana virtual reality camera and a gravity machine: a tracking microscope that studies microbes on a spinning wheel. They also used a spinning wheel confocal microscope nicknamed “the squid” to image living cellular structures inside organisms for the first time.
A female octopus (Haliphron atlanticus) consumes a jellyfish at a depth of 800 meters. This large pelagic octopus (its mantle is between 40 and 50 cm long) spends its entire life in the open sea. Males of this species only grow up to 30 centimeters (about 12 inches). Females can grow up to four meters (13 feet) and weigh 75 kilograms (165 pounds). This species is rarely seen alive and most of what is known about it has been determined from specimens caught in trawl nets. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute
“This opens a new door for research into deep-sea physiology, linking cellular architectures with the function of organisms. We can now witness living internal processes within these extreme organisms adapted to withstand immense pressure and darkness,” Manu Prakash, a bioengineer at Stanford University, said in a statement.
This is a new species of lobed comb jelly, identified by Dr. Dhugal Lindsay (JAMSTEC). These ctenophores are unlike comb jellies that trail long, sticky tentacles behind them to catch their prey; The lobes are characterized by two large, muscular oral lobes that extend beyond the mouth and are used to catch prey. The pilots of the SuBastian ROV recorded this observation at a depth of 560 meters. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute
These technologies allowed researchers to quickly identify new species on board the ship. Among them are an original-looking glass squid, ethereal jellyfish and small single-celled organisms.
The team collected images of this siphonophore at a depth of 552 meters. The imaging systems tested on R/V Falkor (also) allowed researchers to create millimeter-scale 3D representations of the creature in its natural habitat. Most species identifications are done on land, using samples or small pieces, but these systems allow scientists to see and study the entire animal while it lives in the water. Based on images and measurements collected at sea, Dr. Dhugal Lindsay of JAMSTEC (Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology) is confident that this animal belongs to an undescribed genus, perhaps even a new family of physisonect siphonophores. Based on detailed anatomical and genetic data collected in the water and on board, scientists will be able to compare this animal with those collected in other parts of the world and give this physonect a name. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute.
“This cruise’s novel suite of technologies is a glimpse into the future of marine life science,” added Jyotika Virmani, executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute. “We look forward to a future where scientists study marine life as elegantly as this team did, and in virtual reality.”
A Solmissus, or plate jellyfish, feeds on a ctenophore, commonly known as a comb jelly. Unlike most jellyfish that passively drag their tentacles behind them, Solmissus swims with the tentacles extended in front of its body to catch ctenophores before the vibrations alert the prey. They are thought to be gelatinous predators that play an important role in regulating crested jellyfish populations in the twilight and midnight zones of the ocean. Image: ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute
