- Category: Science & Technology
By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience.com - November 22, 2009 (Photo Credit: David Shale) At more than 1 mile down (2,000 to 2,500 meters), scientists discovered this bizarre, elongated orange animal identified as Neocyema -- only the 5th specimen of the fish ever caught and never before on the mid-Atlantic Ridge. The odd fish was found as part of the decade-long, international 14-project Census of Marine Life.
(Photo Credit: Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) At 1.7 miles down (2,750 meters) in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, scientists found this transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes, creeping forward on its many tentacles at less than 1 inch (2 cm) per minute while sweeping detritus-rich sediment into its mouth. The creature was discovered as part of the decade-long, international 14-project Census of Marine Life.
The deep sea is teeming with thousands of species that have never known sunlight, explorers now say.
Revealed via cameras towed deep in the sea, sonar and other technologies, a stunning 17,650 species are now known to thrive in an eternal watery darkness. This menagerie of weird creatures, ranging from crabs to shrimp to worms, somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to roughly 3 miles (5 km) below the ocean waves.
Most of these creatures have adapted to diets based on meager droppings from the sunlit layer above, while others live on sulfur and methane, or bacteria that break down oil, or the sunken bones of dead whales and other implausible foods.
(Photo Credit: David Shale) A new-found deep-sea species of gelatinous dumbo (Grimpoteuthis sp.)
flap a pair of large ear-like fins to swim. The creature was discovered as part of the decade-long, international 14-project Census of Marine Life.
Scientists have inventoried about 17,650 species deeper than 656 feet (200 meters), the edge of darkness, where sunlight no longer penetrates. This number includes some 5,722 species recorded deeper than the black abyss of 3,280 feet (1,000 meters).
Tales from the deep
During their voyages, all part of the decade-long Census of Marine Life project involving thousands of scientists from around the world, explorers discovered a diverse collection of species. ..MORE...
