A Frightening Haul
A faceless fish, zombie worms, and flesh-eating crustaceans - oh my! All these and more were recently pulled up from the depths of the abyss...and by abyss, I mean some of the deepest parts of the oceans humans have explored so far.
The mission itself was called 'Sampling the Abyss'. This mission was headed up by a joint effort between Australia's 'Museums of Victoria' and the 'Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation'.
The goal of 'Sampling the Abyss' was to explore Australia's easern abyss which is roughly 2.5 miles below the surface of the ocean. Why? Well, this patch of ocean is one of the least explored parts of the entire planet and it is believed that discoveries and research there will further help scientists to understand biodiversity, and maybe even how to best protect it.
The team comprised of 40 international scientists that lasted roughly a month. The entire month was spent on the research vessel, aptly named 'Investigator.' The Chief Scientist on this pioneering voyage into the deep is Dr Tim O’Hara. Dr. O'Hara is the deputy head of the Museums of Victoria and hopes to find and collect new specimens with the help of specially created nets and other fishing gear.
One of my favorite finds was the Coffinfish. Although Coffinfish have been documented for quite some time, the ones they discovered were quite interesting looking (if you want to see pics head over here). One interesting things about coffinfish is, well, they aren't fish at all. In fact, their in the sea toad family.
O'Hara has said about the mission, “We know that abyssal animals have been around for at least 40 million years, but until recently only a handful of samples had been collected from Australia’s abyss,”
The above image is from Flickr user Paramita and is liscensed under creative commons.