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Deep Sea Creatures

deep sea fish, deep sea creatures

Deep Sea Fish and Deep Sea Creatures

Weird New Animals From Antarctica's Deep Seas

Hundreds of new species of deep-sea animals, such as the baby isopod Ceratoserolis above, have been discovered during expeditions in the waters off Antarctica. Ceratoserolis is just one of 585 new species of isopod—a type of marine crustacean related to wood lice—found during the Antarctic Benthic Deep-Sea Biodiversity Project, or ANDEEP, trips between 2002 and 2005. Researchers aboard the German research vessel Polarstern in the Weddell Sea also brought up heart-shaped sea urchins, carnivorous sponges, and giant sea spiders the size of dinner plates. “We were astonished by the enormous biodiversity we found in many groups of species,” said Angelika Brandt, a marine biologist at the University of Hamburg in Germany. The project has made a major contribution to the Census of Marine Life (CoML) programme, a global collaboration among thousands of researchers who aim to make a detailed record of all ocean life by 2010.

Weird Deep-Sea Creatures Found in Atlantic

With a fearsome grin fit for a movie monster, this viperfish is a real-life predator that lurks in one of the world's most remote locations.An international team of 31 researchers found this and other strange animals while exploring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an underwater mountain range that runs from Iceland to the Azores islands west of Portugal (see Europe map).Over the course of five weeks, the team cataloged a host of exotic worms, colorful corals, unusual sea cucumbers, and weird fish. Clearly, viperfish has plenty to eat. Many of the species found on the ridge are rare and had only been discovered in recent years, scientists said. At least one species found during the survey—a tiny crustacean called a seed shrimp—is thought to be new to science. "It was like going to a new country," said expedition leader Monty Priede of Britain's University of Aberdeen. The survey was coordinated by the Norway-based MAR-ECO project and the Census of Marine Life program.

Strange Creepy Deep Sea Creatures-see the video!

Deep Sea Creatures-slideshow

New Species Found in Remote Asian Sea

A square jaw and edgy brow give a distinctive profile to this boxfish, one of many exotic marine creatures recently found by scientists exploring Southeast Asia's Celebes Sea. The international team of researchers recently returned from two weeks in the Celebes, a little-explored sea between Malaysia and the Philippines that is home to one of the world's deepest ocean basins. The Celebes's relative isolation and chilly depths make it one of the world's most richly diverse marine habitats, likely hosting species that have lived in seclusion for millions of years, expedition leader Larry Madin told the Associated Press.

"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," said Madin, who is director of research at the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

The team found several species that are likely new to science, Madin added, including a swimming sea cucumber, a black jellyfish, and a spiny orange worm with tentacles growing out its head. Experts will be studying the hundred specimens brought back from the expedition to determine which species are new discoveries.

The research was partly funded by WHOI, the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council, the nonprofit Conservation International, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Philippine government.

—Photograph by Ocean Geographic Magazine through WHOI/ISSP/Michael Aw/HO/AP

Fishermen have pulled in a 10-metre colossal squid weighing nearly half a ton

The colossal squid on board the San Aspiring with skipper John Bennett. Fishermen have pulled in a 10-metre colossal squid weighing nearly half a ton from the frigid waters south of New Zealand. "It's phenomenal," said Steve O'Shea, a squid expert at the Auckland Institute of Technology on New Zealand's North Island. "We have accounts that [the squid weighs] 450 kg … which would make this the heaviest squid ever recorded." It's believed that the squid is a male - never before described, according to O'Shea. "Sexing squid is very difficult … but male squid are usually half to three-quarters the size of female squid. If this is a male," he explained, "it means we've got an even larger female out there." Colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) are not to be confused with the giant squid (Architeuthis dux), said O'Shea. "The giant squid is just a scaled-up version of the common arrow [shaped] squid - the calamari that everyone would eat." He explained. "It's a very slender squid, and we've looked at about 130 of these, with a maximum weight of 275 kilograms." However, said O'Shea, the colossal squid - native to Antarctic waters - is a very heavy, short and stocky animal, with a huge spherical mantle and two enormous muscular fins that propel the animal through the water. Giant squid have eyes that can be as big as soccer balls, but according to O'Shea, it's thought that the eyes of colossal squid could reach half a metre in diameter - making them by far the largest in the animal kingdom. "It's enormous," he said. "A completely different animal to the giant squid." Both the giant and collosal squid have eight arms and two longer tentacles. But while the appendages of giant squid have rows of simple suction cups down their length, the colossal squid's suckers are armed with swivelling hooks. Only a handful of the enigmatic animals have been caught, and the 10 metre-long specimen announced yesterday is thought to be the first intact adult specimen of the species. The fishing vessel San Aspiring, owned by New Zealand's Sanford seafood company, was trolling for Patagonian toothfish - better known by their commercial name of Chilean sea bass - when it snagged the near half-tonne cephalopod. "The squid was almost dead when it reached the surface," said New Zealand Fisheries Minister Jim Anderton, and it was actually eating a toothfish when it was pulled aboard. The squid, now frozen, will be transported to New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa, in the capital city of Wellington. "[It] will be photographed, measured, tissue sampled, registered and preserved intact in the Natural Environment collection. On-going examination of this giant will help to unlock some of the mysteries of the deep ocean," said Anderton. "Even basic questions such as how large does this species grow to, and how long does it live for, are not yet known."

Deep Sea Fish and Deep Sea Creatures