Life in the Deep Sea: Only the Fragile Survive

At this year’s National Association for Biology Teachers conference, Steve Haddock from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, spoke on deep ocean habitats.   The National Evolutionary Synthesis Center sponsored the session on extreme environments and are now making all the videos available.  Steve’s excellent and visually impressive talk is above and demonstrates the wonder and beauty of the deep-sea pelagic zone.  Definitely a must watch for both information and entertainment.

And due to popular request we will be bringing back the TGIF.  Links for ocean related videos are always welcome.  Make suggestions in the comments below.

Text from Youtube on Steve’s Talk:

The deep ocean is the largest living space on Earth, abundant with diverse alien-looking life forms despite the fact that it is dark, cold, has limited resources and exerts high pressures. In response to these environmental challenges and unique ecological constraints, organisms have evolved a variety of forms and functions including transparent dome eye covers, cloaks of invisibility, and the ability to communicate by making bioluminescent light. Because there are few surfaces, morphologies have diversified in unconstrained manner resulting in 40-meter long jellies and diaphanous comb jellies that propel themselves with eyelash-like cilia. Many of these deep-sea species are not yet described, and current research involves understanding the diversity and relationships of these animals, as well as the genetic underpinnings of their unique bio-optical properties. Although they are obscure even to marine biologists and live in some of most unexplored habitats on the planet, these animals actually can occur as close as a few kilometers from a large city. This paradox underscores how much we have yet to learn about life on this planet.