Thread by @expeditionlog

Today being the solstice & anniversary of HMS Challenger setting out on her voyage of ocean exploration in 1872, it's a good day to reflect on some of the deep-sea discoveries of 2018.

Here are three that show how there are still surprises out there for us... (thread/)

2018 deep-sea surprise 1: deep-sea skates may use the warm waters of hydrothermal vents to incubate their egg cases, revealed in a research paper published in February, from exploration at >1.6 km deep in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

nature.com/articles/s4159… (2/6)

2018 deep-sea surprise 2: tantalising evidence that some whales might dive much deeper than thought, from seafloor marks discovered at >4 km deep in the Pacific, analysed in a paper published in August by @Leigh_Marsh @VeerleHuvenne @DanielOBJones

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.10… (3/6)

2018 deep-sea surprise 3: astonishing aggregation of >1000 octopuses brooding their eggs at >3 km deep on Davidson Seamount in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, discovered (& shared live) during an expedition by @EVNautilus in October

nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/1… (4/6)

All of these were imo "unknown unknowns" - things we perhaps didn't imagine were going on; all in types of habitats (vents, seamounts, abyssal plain nodule area) considered for future deep-sea mining; all found by surveys of protected areas or to understand mining impacts (5/6)

There were plenty of other fascinating deep-sea discoveries made or published this year, and those are just three that caught my eye; may the wind be at our backs for 2019 as we continue to explore beyond the blue of #OurBluePlanet (/end)