[Think of this as a science "news of the weird" item.]
Camera Helps ID Unknown Sea Creatures
Associated Press
Sep 3, 9:37 PM (ET)
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050904/D8CD4VN00.html
WASHINGTON (AP) - After fleeing in the face of Hurricane Katrina, ocean
researchers have returned to the Gulf of Mexico where they are getting a
revealing new look at the deep sea.
"We are exploring the deep sea with new eyes," oceanographer Tamara Frank
of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution said Friday.
Frank and others aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Research Vessel Seward Johnson are using a camera that operates with dim
red light to study life on the sea floor.
They have found a variety of deep-dwelling shellfish that produce their own
light, animals with surprising ability to see ultraviolet light and a
previously unknown type of squid, six feet long, that attacked their camera.
"Imagine, something that big that had never been seen before," scientist
Edith A. Widder, who recently left Harbor Branch, said in a telephone briefing.
When Katrina moved into the Gulf of Mexico the researchers retreated, first
to Louisiana and then to Galveston, Texas. If the storm had continued west,
Corpus Christi would have been the next stop, Capt. Aric Anderson said.
They left the 200-pound camera on the bottom. When they returned it had
been upended, but they don't think that was done by the storm. The camera
was 1,800 feet deep, where storm effects would be minimal.
They think a large predator probably upset the camera. Unfortunately the
battery had run down so they didn't get a picture of it. They have filmed
sharks attacking the camera before.
Previous studies of deep ocean life had used bright white light or looked
at animals brought up in nets, Frank explained.
Unfortunately, the animals caught in nets are often badly damaged and the
white light blinds these deep-sea creatures.
With the red light camera they have gotten pictures of animals and even
been able to capture some and bring them to the surface without blinding
them. They are kept in dark with only dim red light which they don't seem
to be able to see.
The chambers are filled with cold seawater. The change in pressure doesn't
seem to affect animals such as crabs and shrimp, which don't have
air-filled swim bladders, the researchers said.
Some have the ability to see ultraviolet light, Frank said. They are trying
to determine why. "As far as we know there is no ultraviolet light down
there," she said. One theory is that it helps them see creatures that
produce their own biological fluorescence.
"The discovery that one of deep-sea crabs has ultraviolet vision is
thrilling," said Widder. "The question is what the heck are they doing with
it."
Some of the creatures also seem able to see polarized light, perhaps to
help them detect camouflaged predators or prey.
Witter said the camera is often left for a few days with some bait, which
attracts creatures into view.
A fake jellyfish that mimics the bioluminescent light of real jellies has
attracted several squid attacks, they said.
As many as 80 percent of animals in the deep sea produce some light, she said.
---
On the Net:
Operation Deep Scope:
http://www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/05deepscope/welcome.html
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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