A team of marine biologists has discovered what it believes to be several new species of underwater creatures, including never-before-seen sponges, corals and sea stars.
The researchers returned to Halifax Wednesday after three weeks in the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Hudson, a Canadian Coast Guard ship.
Their mission took them to an underwater canyon called the Gully, as well as areas of the North Atlantic known as the Flemish Cap and the Orphan Knoll.
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Wild Down Deep
Australian scientists have discovered bizarre prehistoric sea life thousands of feet below Australia's Great Barrier Reef, like this deep-sea red jellyfish Atolla. The creatures live in a dark world where the pressure is 140 times greater than on land.
Justin Marshall, AFP / Getty Images
Justin Marshall, AFP / Getty Images
Wild Down Deep
Australian scientists have discovered bizarre prehistoric sea life thousands of feet below Australia's Great Barrier Reef, like this deep-sea red jellyfish Atolla. The creatures live in a dark world where the pressure is 140 times greater than on land.
Wild Down Deep
A deep-sea anglerfish was captured on film by scientists from the Queensland Brain Institute using high-tech cameras.
Wild Down Deep
The sea creatures were well adapted to their environment, team leader professor Justin Marshall said. "Learning more about these creatures' primitive eyes and brain could help neuroscientists better understand human vision," research student Andy Dunstan said. Here, an up-close shot shows details of a deep-sea squid's skin.
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"One of the things that we're trying to do by looking at the life in the deep sea is discover what's there in the first place, before we wipe it out," Marshall said. Here, a deep-sea hatchetfish glides past.
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The images were captured at Osprey Reef, off the coast of northeast Australia, 220 miles from Cairns. This photograph shows a deep-sea amphipod crustacean.
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"Osprey Reef is one of the many reefs in the Coral Sea Conservation Zone, which has been identified as an area of high conservation importance," Marshall said. "Therefore, it is paramount that we identify the ecosystems and species inhabiting the area." Here, a deep-sea anglerfish is seen up close.
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The scientists used special low-light sensitive, custom-designed, remote-control cameras, which sat on the sea floor. One spotted this deep-sea viperfish.
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Later this year, the same scientists plan to take their underwater cameras to the Peruvian Trench off the coast of South America, in search of the Giant Squid. Here, their cameras captured something a little smaller: a Peraphilla deep-sea jellyfish.
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Also on board the ship was ROPOS, a remotely operated vehicle fitted with a movable arm that made it possible for the researchers to reach depths never before explored.
With the help of ROPOS, the 27 biologists from Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec collected video, images and biological samples three kilometres below the sea's surface.
"We went down 3,000 metres, which is as deep as we have ever gone in these waters here," said Ellen Kenchington of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth, N.S.
"At those depths, we found new species that we think will be new to science as well as new species to Canada. They include sponges, corals and invertebrates like sea stars, and even small worm-like creatures."
In addition to the scientific knowledge gained from the mission, the samples and evidence collected will allow researchers to make recommendations related to fish stocks and areas in need of protection.
"The push has been to identify these - where are they, what are they - put the science into defining them and their role in relation to the fish communities," Kenchington said. "I think the driver behind this is that we're seeing fish stocks undergo changes, and we really don't know enough about the entire ecosystem that they are a part of."
Many of the species collected are so new to science that they have yet to be named.
