In 1964, the Antarctic oceanographic research ship USNS Eltanin made the above photograph of the sea bottom west of Cape Horn. The Poles: the final frontier. These were the voyages of the USNS Eltanin. Its 10-year mission: to explore strange new polar worlds. To seek out new life and survey new sealfoors. To boldly go where no man has gone before! Between July 5, 1962, and December 29, 1972, Eltanin conducted 52 Antarctic research voyages, covering approximately 80% of the Southern Ocean and traversing a cumulative distance of 400,000 miles. During these missions, Eltanin gathered magnetic profiles of the seabed, which played a crucial role in substantiating the theory of continental drift by confirming the phenomenon of sea floor spreading.

But back to the aliens. When the above image was published, due to its regular antenna-like structure and upright position led many to postulate was of extraterrestrial origins…an alien antenna

The initial public reveal of this intriguing image occurred when it grabbed attention in the New Zealand Herald on December 5, 1964, under the headline “Puzzle Picture From Sea Bed.” However, the enigma only deepened as additional layers unfolded. In 1968, Brad Steiger contributed to the intrigue with an article in Saga Magazine, suggesting that the Eltanin had captured something truly baffling—a curious apparatus resembling a fusion of a TV antenna and a telemetry antenna at with the height of 1.6 meters. Note there is no idea of scale in the original image so the height was pure conjecture. Various theories continue to circulate during that period, ranging from suggestions that it was a mere fragment that had accidentally dislodged from a vessel to more speculative notions, including the belief that it might be a clandestine endeavor of the Russians, or even more far-fetched hypotheses involving extraterrestrial involvement.

The biologist Dr. Thomas Hopkins, would say of “I wouldn’t like to say the thing is man-made because this brings up the problem of how one would get it there … But it’s fairly symmetrical and the offshoots are all 90 degrees apart”

But apparently all these UFO enthusiasts had missed the 1971 book The Face of the Deep by Bruce C. Heezen and Charles D. Hollister. Hollister who had already identified the mysterious object as Cladorhiza concrescens, a carnivorous sponge. As pointed out by Heezen and Hollister, in 1888, Alexander Agassiz drew the odd creature in Three Cruises of the Blake. From 1877 to 1880, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey dispatched the steamer Blake on three cruises of discovery—two expeditions to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean and one off the eastern Atlantic coast as far north as the Gulf of Maine. These cruises were designed to increase knowledge of the depths of the oceans and the animals and plants living on or near the bottom and to pioneer technological advances in oceanography You can access the entire Agassiz’s Three Cruises of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer “Blake”, in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea, and along the Atlantic coast of the United States, from 1877 to 1880 online. Agassiz described the strange sponge as having a long stem with ramifying roots deeply embedded in the mud, adorned with nodes bearing four to six club-like appendages, covering extensive portions of the seabed like bushes.

Below is screen grab from remote operated vehicles from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute from one of my dives of Cladorhiza concrescens on the seafloor. Indeed the Cladorhizid carnivorous sponges often have these very spectacular forms with 90 degree angles and intricate structures. I always refer to C. conscescens as the lollipop tree sponge.

However, this identification by Heezen and Hollister remained large ignored. In 2003, a discussion on email list prompted marine biologist Tom DeMary to reach out to A. F. Amos, an oceanographer who had been aboard the USNS Eltanin in the 1960s. Amos had know of the identification of the antenna as sponge and direct DeMary to the book by Heezen and Hollister. DeMary then shared this more broadly.

The post Alien Antenna on Deep-Sea Floor first appeared on Deep Sea News.

I’m constantly amazed by the beauty and diversity of life under Antarctica’s ice. Below is one of the best videos I’ve seen of this stunning natural wonder. The water is below freezing, at a heart-stopping -1.5°C (29.3°F)*, a meter of ice covers the surface for much of the year, and the whole ecosystem is plunged into Antarctica’s winter darkness for months at a time. Yet, look at this beauty. Look at all the creatures calling this alien world home. Watching this, I can’t help but wonder about all the mysterious places that we haven’t been. From the deepest depths under polar ice, to the watery moons of other planets. If this is what we’re finding so far, what else might be out there?

The original article can be found at: http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2016/rare-glimpse-into-antarctic-underwater-world

Transcript of video:

We’re diving under the sea ice in O’Brien Bay, south of Casey research station in eastern Antarctica.

This is a thriving, colorful world filled with sponges, sea cucumbers, sea spiders, worms, algae and starfish. Here we are at 30 m below the surface, where the water temperature is a chilly −1.5[°C] year round, and the sea is covered by ice that is a meter and a half thick for more than 10 months of the year.

This ice provides protection from Antarctica’s harsh weather conditions, and a stable marine environment that allows biodiversity to flourish. This important biodiversity is the focus of our research into the effects of climate change and ocean acidification.

Here at the Australian Antarctic Division, we’re working hard to ensure the continent remains valued, protected and understood.

***

*The salt in seawater lowers the freezing temperature, and prevents the water from turning to ice at 0°C (32°F), much the same way road salt melts the ice on roadways.

The post New video shows the hidden world under Antarctica’s ice first appeared on Deep Sea News.

This week the best part of the 90s has returned in full force with the Niantic’s release of Pokémon Go. You guys, this is like that thing when they re-released Oregon Trail for mobile devices…but better.

For those not in the know, Pokémon Go basically blurs the lines between the real world and the virtual world by allowing “Pokétrainers” to catch em’ all as they go through their everyday lives. Quite effectively getting the nerds out into nature to exercise. Sneaky sneaky.

Reports have poured in regarding the rather interesting places people have found themselves looking for wild Pokémon. From strip clubs to delivery rooms, you never know where a Squirtle may be hiding. Perhaps even next to a dead body. 

With that said, I think we can all agree, there are good places to look for Pokémon and very bad, bad places to look for Pokémon. We here at Deep Sea News believe it is our sacred duty to keep the public well informed of all things ocean-faring and would like to point out some of the places that perhaps you shouldn’t go looking for your next Seel or Horsea. You’re welcome.

1. Mariana Trench 

Nearly 7 miles down (36,070 feet), the Mariana Trench clocks in as the deepest point in the world’s oceans. Not only would you not be able to see anything, but the pressures 1,000x that of sea level would crush you and your hopes of catching all the Seadra lurking around in the ocean’s depths. Of course, if you are besties with James Cameron…you might have a chance.

2. Rocky Intertidal Zone

Unlike most of the sea stars on the West Coast of the United States, Starmie’s are immune to Sea Star Wasting Disease so you might actually by lucky enough to find one. However, you must remember that they occupy one of the most extreme ecosystems in the world, the Rocky Intertidal Zone. Thus, in order to be the very best like no one ever was, you must first combat some potentially massive wave action.

3. Hydrothermal Vents

Ironically, there are probably a crap ton of Pokémon at hydrothermal vents and most likely the rarest and most exotic species of all. These vents are teaming with biological diversity uniquely adapted to this most extreme environment comprised of high temperatures and seemingly toxic water. They are adapted…you aren’t.

4. Cook Inlet (Anchorage, Alaska)

Boasting some of the most dramatic tidal exchanges in the United States, this area off the coast of Anchorage, Alaska is no place for Pokétrainers. Krabby and the rest of the water Pokémon won’t get stuck in the quicksand-like glacial silt, but you might. Combine that with a 12.2 m tidal shift and Team Rocket trying to steal your Pokémon will be the least of your worries.   

5. Dead Zone (Gulf of Mexico)

Hypoxic Areas, or Dead Zones, occur when the level of dissolved oxygen in the water column is so low that the area can no longer support aerobic life (note: of which I assume for the sake of this post Pokémon to be). The United States claims domain over one of the second largest hypoxic zones world wide, the Mississippi River mouth in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. This is due, in major part, to large agricultural nutrient run-off. Do not let the photoshopped Squirtle in this picture fool you. There are no Pokémon here. They are all dead.

6. Polar Region

Let’s be real. It’s cold. There is ice everywhere. You don’t have an ice breaker. Though with climate change the way it’s going, catching that Seel might just be a waiting game.  

7. Mediterranean Sea

“The United Nations Environment Programme has estimated that 650,000,000 tons of sewage, 129,000 tons of mineral oil, 60,000 tons of mercury, 3,800 tons of lead and 36,000 tons of phosphates are dumped into the Mediterranean each year.” Probability has it that the Mediterranean Sea is the world’s most polluted ocean, meaning that there are most likely low levels of Pokémon and high levels of “you don’t want to swim there”.

The post The Worst Ocean Environments to “Catch Em’ All” first appeared on Deep Sea News.

You know I love a good visualization and this one of the Southern Ocean is no slouch. I forgive the somewhat standard narration for the shear beauty of the phenomena illustrated. Circulation, eddies, deep water formation, isopycnals. It’s got it ALL. Seriously, check out the waterfalls of super dense water flowing off the continental shelf at the edge of the Ross Sea at 1:30 min. And the spread of Antarctic Bottom Water along the Atlantic seafloor, it’s like the Oobleck. Just the beautiful, dynamical, oxygen-laden, cold and salty version. How does one make such an impressively high-resolution animation? With awesome output from an ocean model run on Australia’s most powerful supercomputer of course! Scientists from the ANU hub of ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science ran the model, and dataviz experts from the National Computational Infrastructure’s VizLab team made it pretty. Enjoy!

Source:

Big data reveals glorious animation of Antarctic bottom water

The post Tour the deep Southern Ocean from the safety of your couch first appeared on Deep Sea News.

It started in 1996 with a bright green bucket. Chris Griner, an able seaman at the United States Coast Guard, stopped by with a few gallons of deep-sea mud. Having walked by Joan’s studio a few times, he wondered if she could use the seafloor mud to build pottery. Joan stuck some mud in the kiln spyhole, and it melted into a glassy puddle, catching her completely off-guard. In her quest to learn more about the mysterious melting properties of this deep-sea mud, Joan met staff members at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution who gave her little samples of sediment from all across the globe. And each one melted into a different pattern on the clay. Some sediments fired soft green, others a crackly brown. And so she went to work.

“I never thought the sea floor was as muddy as that” Joan tells me as we walk through her studio. Today she has an impressive collection of ceramics and sea-floor muds, including a small bag with deep brown mud from the Marianas Trench–the deepest place on Earth. This mud is precious, and she uses it more as an accent rather than as a whole glaze. But that’s not the only unique sample she has. Rather than the deep sea, how about the deep past? A cup glazed with sediment from the K-T boundary layer, perhaps? This sediment is from a literal line in the sand separating the age of the dinosaurs from the age of mammals. Or maybe you prefer a more recent history? Pick up a vase glazed with sediment from an 8th century BC Phoenician Wreck. And for the ocean lovers, Antarctic bowls, hydrothermal vent tea cups and mid-Atlantic Ridge mugs pepper her shelves. Can’t decide? Get a little of all seven seas with one of her mixed-mud pieces. Really, it’s an art-nerd-meets-science-nerd paradise.

The best part for me is that all of this work represents a collaboration of science and art–all of the sediment Joan uses comes from scientists who donate leftover mud. And in the words of one scientist, “you don’t know what it’s like to work with material 20 or 30 years, never expect this, and then see it in this form.” It’s a way to transform the remote far-away places into something beautiful and tangible that can fit in your hands.

Joan’s work isn’t exactly cheap, though in other ways it’s priceless. It took me about a month to build up the nerve and income to drop $90 on a mug made with a bit of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The muds she uses are from all over, and unlike commercial glazes they are not chemically well-characterized. For muds with lots of heavy metals, like hydrothermal vents sediment, Joan only glazes the outside of cups. Other muds she’s less concerned about, though it’s something to keep in mind, especially if you intend to use it daily with hot or acidic liquids (like wine). Though my new mug is something I intend to treat with care, I also fully intend to use it.

I may never visit the Mid-Atlantic ridge, or see the Havre Seamount in real life, but like Joan and her green bowl, I now get to wonder at these mysteries a little bit every day. And that’s not a bad way to start the morning.

To check out more of Joan’s work, or snag one of these beautiful works for yourself, visit her website:

http://www.thesoftearthspeaks.com/

And online store:

http://store.thesoftearth.com/

The post How to hold a piece of the deep sea first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The remote Round Island is a walrus favorite. They come back year after year to haul-out on the beach. Up to 14,000 walruses have been counted on the island on a single day! So enjoy the soothing sounds and visions of walrus, waves, and waddling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=14587&v=HZRUsRVMS80

The post All Walrus. All the time. first appeared on Deep Sea News.

On April 1, 2003, a massive squid was pulled up from the sub-antarctic waters south of New Zealand, and while a bit mangled by the fishing lines that captured it and suffering from additional damage from packing and travel, it still measured 5.2 meters (nearly 18 feet long) and weighed 300 kilos (660 pounds), making it one of the largest invertebrates ever studied. This specimen made its way to the Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand where it became the object of intense study among those with a particular obsession with squid. It turned out this was just a young one.

The Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) was first described in 1925 on the basis of several tentacles taken from the stomach of the squid-eating sperm whale; these tentacles and the distinctive sharp hooks on the suckers were unique enough to warrant designation as a new species.  In the intervening decades juveniles and chunks of larger individuals were collected and described, and yet an entire adult specimen was not to be known until decades later. Whaling stations routinely examined sperm whale stomachs to identify what – and possibly where – they were eating, and while longer arms and tentacles from other squid species had been examined from whale bellies, the relatively modest tentacles from the first Colossal Squid didn’t really indicate what a massive beast the squid would turn out to be until the 2003 specimen was found.

In February 2007 another Colossal Squid was accidentally snagged as it pilfered Patagonian Toothfish from a longliner plying the Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea south of New Zealand. Barely alive but relatively undamaged, the dying specimen was filmed, photographed, and readied for travel to the Te Papa. This adult, weighing some 495 kilos – more than half a ton – was easily the largest squid ever captured, If not as long as the Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux), its sheer mass made it the largest non-vertebrate animal alive on the planet. Today, this Colossal Squid is in eternal repose, inanimate and floating in a formalin-filled glass-topped casket for public viewing in the Te Papa Museum, not unlike the embalmed corpse of Vladimir Lenin inside his brick mausoleum in Russia’s Red Square, but far more interesting. Since 2007, several more Colossal Squid were received by the Te Papa, including one obtained just last year, but are housed in the off-site collections facility several blocks from the museum, and none are as large as this one.

Prior to construction of Te Papa’s Colossal Squid exhibit, an exhaustive anatomical study was performed on the animal.  Dissection of one of the internally-lit eyes that could project illumination toward its tentacles made it clear that was it adapted for hunting fish & other squid in the deep, dark Antarctic waters, and by deep, we’re talking more than a kilometer underwater. It was, in fact, the largest eye of any animal yet known.  The relatively small tentacles of this species were made more lethal due to the serrated suckers on the eight arms of the squid – a common feature in many species of large squid – but also sharp hooks on the tentacular clubs that could swivel, thus keeping a firm hold on struggling prey. Most startlingly, the large beak of this squid was smaller than beaks of the same species taken from Sperm Whale stomachs, evidence that super-colossal Colossal Squid are alive and hunting in the southern seas.

The post Super Colossal first appeared on Deep Sea News.

You already know that Deep Sea News provides expert reporting, in-depth analysis, first-person research, and sarcastic mockery of contemporary topics relevant to our ocean world. Unlike other popular science sites that can be wildly imaginative and dangerously inaccurate, DSN’s crew of scientists cut through the pop-science b.s. and re-posted misinformation to deliver ocean news that you can trust.

But did you know the DSN Facebook site provides even more delicious science nuggets each week for your inquiring mind to chew and savor? Beginning this week, as a premium for our Facebook friends, each and every Monday from now until eternity* will feature the shell of a different marine marine organism in an ongoing DSN internet event called Malacology Monday.

Dipping into the vast marine science collection from the Lobos Marinos International Marine Science (& Cocktails), we will bring you the dazzling array of evolutionary innovations, complex architecture, and endless aesthetics that sea shells deliver. For each species featured we will also communicate bona-fide scientific information and curious facts about the ecology and adaptations of extant and extinct mollusks, as well as the long human history with marine shellfish and their impact on our own culture.

If you like mollusks, and in particular malacology, this is a much-need intravenous drip of taxonomic enlightenment and morphological bliss, and if you aren’t yet in the cult, Malacology Monday will be the digital gateway drug to a soul fulfilling and mind expanding appreciation of our underwater world. So start each week with a stiff shot of mollusks on Deep Sea News’ Facebook Page.

*Eternity not exclusive of time away for expeditions, conferences, vacation, last-minute pre-deadline grant-writing, finals week grading, benders, mandatory time at the honor rancho, amnesia, malaise, or the untimely demise of the concept’s host.

Related articles

The post Malacology Monday first appeared on Deep Sea News.

So let’s start with the obvious here: in a SINGLE bite, those Beroes ate something up to twice their size. One. Bite. People. The jellies being eaten–they’re called Mnemiopsis, and they’re peaceful plankton eaters. Beroes, by contrast, are like the big bad wolfs of the sea, except no real wolf could swallow its prey whole. So how, exactly, are Beroes pulling off this gastronomic feat? Basically, Beroes are swimming stomachs with mouths attached, and while it’s true this helps them swallow big food, the real secret to their bite lies in a jelly rarity. Let us diagram:

Forget the sock-shaped body, the little paddles or rainbow colors, what truly sets Beroes apart are their TEETH [1]. And they’re some of the most amazing-and terrifying-teeth I’ve ever seen:

Now, they’re tiny, a fraction of a millimeter, and tiny isn’t usually synonymous with ‘terrifying’, but hear me out. Because these teeth can do something no other tooth can. These teeth can move:

Beroe teeth are made of bundles of cellular hairs. Because they’re not made of hard enamel like our teeth, each tooth is incredibly flexible, capable of changing shape; it can transform from a straight piercing-sharp dagger into a hook-like needle that digs in and holds onto prey (like the tooth pictured above). These teeth can also pivot at the base, pulling a victim deep into the stomach. Pierce, hook, pull. And there isn’t just one row of teeth, there are HUNDREDS.

In some Beroe species these fields of teeth stretch down half their stomach, half their stomach is lined with flexible, shape-shifting spines.

But is there a chance for the peaceful Mnemiopsis to escape? None. Once a Beroe has swallowed its prey, it zippers its mouth shut. Yep, that’s right–specialized cells on the edge of its lips form a zipper-like seal, making it impossible for the captured jelly to break free, no matter how hard it tries [2]. Even the researcher who discovered this couldn’t pry open the Beroe mouth, sooner ripping the animal’s body than unsticking the lips. And once the prey is zipped inside? Those same rows of teeth that pulled it in may also serve as tiny meat grinders, pulsing back and forth, slowly tearing it to shreds. After digesting, a Beroe unzips its mouth, spits out any inedible bits, and begins hunting for its next unlucky meal.

So while we may look at a Beroe and see this:

Jellies see this:

Moral of the story: They may be soft and covered in rainbows, but never, ever trust a Beroe. At least, not if you’re a jelly.

Work cited

[1] Diversity of macrociliary size, tooth patterns, and distribution in Beroe (Ctenophora)

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF00403086?LI=true

[2] Dynamic control of cell-cell adhesion and membrane-associated actin during food-induced mouth opening in Beroë

http://jcs.biologists.org/content/106/1/355.full.pdf

Additional recommended reading:

Cilia and the life of ctenophores

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ivb.12042/abstract

The post The rainbow-covered animal with a dark side first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Props: Omar Malik, Monte Kawahara, Ben Goldfarb, Geoff Giller, Mwanzaa Brown.

The post The Immigrant first appeared on Deep Sea News.