The Census of Marine Life: bizarre creaturesof the deep

The Census of Marine Life project, scheduled for completion in October 2010, is discovering and cataloging as many species as possible. Five of the fourteen census projects are related to deep sea life. "Deep sea" is defined as below the level which light penetrates, which is about 200 meters. The observed species are located as deep as 5,000 meters (three miles). A total of 17,500 deep sea species have been cataloged so far, of which 5,722 are found below a depth of 1000 meters.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091122161740.htm

Here are some of the most interesting and bizarre species found so far.

A new species of "Dumbo", a finned octopod.




Clione lamacina, a snail found in Arctic and Antarctic waters.




Here is another polar species, Mimonectes sphaericus, a polar crustacean.


http://english.cctv.com/20090916/103799.shtml




The image gallery at the Census of Marine Life website has some great photos, but they can't be downloaded.

http://www.coml.org

An exceptionally strange group of deep sea creatures are members of the Osedax genus (bone-eating tubeworms). They devour whale bones in association with symbiotic bacteria that help in the digestion process.


They are small; their length ranges between 0.2 and 05. millimeters, and live in tubes that they build. Only the females feed on whales, The males live inside the females and feed on yolk contained inside their bodies. One female may contain dozens of males. Osedax may play a major role in carbon recycling in the deep sea.

http://www.mindfully.org/Water/2004/Bone-Eating-Osedax30jul04.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050926082721.htm


Here are two videos on the deep sea projects.

"The Bloop" and other strange sounds from under the sea

I read an interesting article yesterday about two mysterious signals picked up by hydrophones, acoustic listening devices that were placed by NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) in the ocean. Hydrophones were originally developed as part of a program by the U.S. Navy as part of the SOSUS (Sound Surveillance System) used to track Soviet submarines during the Cold War.. The hydrophones were attached to telecommunication cables so that the sounds picked up could be heard "real time" on land. They were effective but very expensive.

After the Cold War ended in 1991, this technology was turned over to civilians. Portable hydrophones were developed that were self contained, cheaper, and could be dropped anywhere in the ocean. However, data obtained was not real time, and could not be retrieved until the devices were picked up by a ship.

NOAA's VENTS program, which examines underwater hydrothermal venting systems, makes use of these devices. The Acoustic Monitoring Program, which has monitored ocean noises since 1991, picked up the sounds discussed here.

The first of these sounds, known as "The Bloop", was heard several times during the summer of 1997. It has not been heard since. Its origin is uncertain, but the frequency of the sound is consistent with one made by a large animal. The problem is that there is no known whale or other sea creature large enough to have made this sound. It was heard from sensors 3000 miles apart.

Here are two sound files of "The Bloop"



http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/sounds/bloop.html



Another sound picked up by the Acoustic Monitoring Program is known as "The Slow Down" sound. It was recorded on May,19, 1997 Lasting for seven minutes, and heard over a range of 2,000 miles, It was never heard again

The "Slow Down" file:

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/sounds/noise97139.html


Two articles on "The Bloop":


http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327246.500-13-more-things-the-bloop.html

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/sound01/background/technology/technology.html

Some more ocean sounds from NOAA:

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/sound01/background/seasounds/seasounds.html#Anchor-1515