Many have claimed that we know more about outer space than we do about the depths of our own oceans and that may be true. Fortunately technology and know-how is helping us to plunge the deeper and deeper into the ocean depths, and we’re finding some pretty remarkable things.
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IFLScience This is exactly what happened when the Nautilus Live expedition was exploring the ocean floor and a sea creature known as as siphonore appeared in one of the cameras on its remote operating vehicle (ROV). Here’s how they tell it on the Nautilus website: This beautiful colonial organism drifted past Hercules’ cameras, and we followed it for as long as we could keep track. They are made up of many smaller animals called zooids, and can be found floating around the pelagic zone in ocean basins around the world. One famous siphonophore species is the deadly Portugese Man O’ War.
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YouTube Screenshot The team is in its third year of exploring the east Pacific ocean, though it’s not known exactly where they ran upon this rare sea specimen. It’s so unusual, in fact, that the expedition’s camera operators had a hard time believing what they were seeing. From IFLScience: “Wow. Okay, that’s awesome,” says one ROV operator. “I can’t believe that’s a living thing.” Amazingly, although this appears to be a single jellyfish-like animal, it is in fact a roving colony made up of thousands of individual organisms, called zooids, each contributing to the whole. However, more than just its otherworldly shape, this specimen’s purple coloring is said to be rather unusual as well.
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YouTube Screenshot Deep Sea News writer R.R. Helm calls it a “shocking shade”, remarking that this footage truly stands out. We have to agree. Watching the two and a half minute video below will be time well-spent from your day. A colonial organism means that it’s made up of many smaller organisms. In another siphonophore video, the expedition team reveals that some siphonophores can grow up to 40 to 50 meters in length. YIKES! For more information about the Nautilus team, here’s a little about them from their website:
NautilusLive.org The Ocean Exploration Trust was founded in 2008 by Dr. Robert Ballard—best known for his discovery of RMS Titanic’s final resting place and as a National Geographic Explorer in Residence—to engage in pure ocean exploration. Our international programs center on scientific exploration of the seafloor with expeditions launched from Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus, a 64-meter research vessel operated by the Ocean Exploration Trust. In addition to conducting scientific research, we offer our expeditions to explorers on shore via live video, audio, and data feeds from the field. We also bring educators and students aboard during E/V Nautilus expeditions, offering them hands-on experience in ocean exploration, research, and communications. The 2018 Nautilus Expedition will launch the third year of exploration in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and will be one of the most extensive seasons to date. From June to November, Nautilus will document and survey unexplored regions from British Columbia, Canada, along the West Coast of the United States, and for the first time, west to the Hawaiian Islands.