WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2008
New Wonders Found In The Oceans' Depths
Census Of Marine Life Reveals Newly-Discovered Creatures, Migrations And Adaptations
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Photo
Millions of brittle stars (likely Ophiacantha rosea), relatives of sea stars and sea cucumbers, colonize the peak of a seamount to feed on particles carried by the swift Antarctic Circumpolar Current. (AP/NIWAR, New Zealand 2008)
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Photo Essay
Under The Sea
Colorful creatures surface during an exploration of the Celebes Sea
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Photo Essay
To The Ocean Bottom
Journey two miles down to the sea floor on the Alvin sub with "Diver Dan" Dubno.
"We are still making discoveries," but researchers also are busy assembling data already collected into the big picture of life in the oceans, senior scientist Ron O'Dor said.
The fourth update of the census was released Sunday ahead of a meeting of hundreds of researchers that begins Tuesday in Valencia, Spain. More than 2,000 scientists from 82 nations are taking part in the project, which is to be completed in 2010.
A discovery that delights O'Dor is that many deep-ocean octopuses share an Antarctic origin. As the Antarctic got colder, ice increased and octopuses were forced into deeper water, he said in a telephone interview.
Salt and oxygen are concentrated in the deeper waters, he said. This dense water then flows out, carrying along the octopuses that have adapted to the new conditions, enabling them to spread to deep waters around the world.
Deep-water octopuses worldwide, he pointed out, lack the ink sack that allows their shallow-water cousins to shoot out a camouflage screen.
After all, if they live where it is dark, ink is unnecessary, said O'Dor, a Canadian member of the research team.
Patricia Miloslavich, a senior scientist from Venezuela, is pleased with newly-discovered mollusks, from snails to cuttlefish to squids.
Once the census is complete, the plan is to publish three books: a popular survey of sea life, a second book with chapters for each working group, and a third focusing on biodiversity.
O'Dor said also researchers are working with the online scientific journal PLoS ONE, which is open to anyone and thus would make the results readily available.
Scientists at this week's sessions will hear about the discovery of what the researchers call a brittle star city off the coast of New Zealand.
The brittle stars, animals with five arms, have colonized the peak of a seamount - an underwater mountain - where the current flows past at about 2.5 miles per hour. The current delivers such an ample food supply that thousands of stars can capture food simply by raising their arms.
Researchers found a carpet of small crustaceans inhabiting the head of the Mississippi Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico. There are as many as 12,000 of these small crustaceans per square yard.
Among the other findings being reported at the meeting:
By AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Posted by DeckardBR at 05:48 PM : Nov 09, 2008
-Good food for what fish?
http://www.catalogueoflife.org/dynamic-checklist/browse_taxa.php?hub=GlobalHub&selected_taxon=An-Mollusca&path=%2CAn%25Sp2000Hierarchy%2CAn-Mollusca%25Sp2000Hierarchy