Thread by @DivaAmon

Yesterday, on the 1st day of the UK's #COVID19 lockdown, I started posting a daily #deepsea fact on my instagram (@diva_amon) to help amaze/excite/distract. Will cross-post them here also. Feel free to add comments/questions/etc. & I'll try to get to them #DivasDailyDeepSeaFact

DAY 1: The test used to diagnose #COVID19 & other pandemics was developed with the help of an enzyme isolated from a #microbe found in #DeepSea #HydrothermalVents & freshwater hot springs.
Video: @NERCscience @adrg1.
Fact: @WHOI.
#DivasDailyDeepSeaFact
whoi.edu/news-insights/…

DAY 2: #DeepSea life can be slow. Case in point: the Greenland #shark (Somniosus microcephalus) can live for >400 years & only becomes sexually mature at >150 years old. Yes, it took me a grand total of 2 posts to start talking about sex. I blame @Marahh2o. Video: @oceanexplorer

DAY 3: When we imagine #corals, we see those in tropical waters surrounded by colourful fish & bathed in ☀️ BUT did you know >2/3 of coral species live in waters that are deep, dark, & cold?! Epic @oceanexplorer 🎥 (sound on): oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explor…
#SchoolsOutScience #deepsea

DAY 4: There are lakes down in the #deepsea! Brine is 3-8x saltier than the surrounding #ocean so it's much denser and heavier, remaining at the seafloor. This Gulf-of-Mexico brine lake was discovered in 2017. Check out that ripple action & the giant mussels!
🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 5: Not only are there lakes in the deep sea, but there are also mountains!There are thought to be ~30,000 - 100,000 #seamounts globally but we can’t be certain because the current maps of the #ocean floor aren’t detailed enough yet! 📷: @MBARI_News #deepsea

DAY 6: 12 people have walked on the moon but only 7 have visited the deepest point in the #oceans. Challenger Deep is <11km away but the #moon is ~384,000km! Of the 19 people, ZERO were women or POC.
Thx for the correction @expeditionlog!
📸:Atlantic Productions for @Discovery

DAY 7: Some lockdown perspective - A #deepsea #octopus, Graneledone boreopacifica, broods its eggs for 53 months, and during this time she likely never even left them to eat. This is by far the longest known brooding period on Earth! 🐙

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

📷: @MBARI_News

DAY 8: MOR octopuses! This is a #deepsea #octopus nursery. 2 are known globally - here Davidson #Seamount off California ~3km deep. ~1000 Muusoctopus robustus are sitting in brooding position in shimmering (warmer?) water, which could be used for egg incubation
🎥: @EVNautilus

DAY 9: Bioluminescence is the production of light by an organism. ¾ of all marine organisms, excluding microscopic species & those that live on the seafloor, likely do so, & as the #deepsea is so vast, it may be the commonest form of communication on the 🌎! 🎥@beroe @MBARI_News

DAY 10: This is the scaly-foot snail and it is remarkable!
It has:
1) armour made of iron sulphide.
2) the largest heart (relative to body size) in the entire animal kingdom.
3) special microbes within its body that make food using chemicals from the water.
📸 by @squamiferum

DAY 11: #Lockdown perspective. Euplectella glass #sponges are intricate structures, which baby shrimp shelter in. Over time, the shrimp grow, becoming too big to leave the sponge. BUT it's mutualistic. The shrimp clean the sponge while receiving food/protection.📸: @oceanexplorer

DAYS 12 & 13: The deep ocean is MASSIVE.

Not only does it cover 65% of the planet's surface BUT it also extends downwards, providing over 95% of the habitable space on Earth.

And way less than 1% of the deep ocean has ever been seen by human eyes.

📷: @oceanexplorer

DAY 14: Asphalt seeps
-Few known
-Petroleum form upside-down droplets that stretch & contort in the currents & near-freezing temperatures
-Form rocks that resemble lava squeezed from tubes
-Chemicals leech from asphalt & power unique communities
🎥: Campeche Knolls by @marum_de

DAY 15: Greenland #sharks (DAY 2) have got nothing on #deepsea #corals! A Leoipathes black coral was aged at >4200 yrs old! In 0 AD, that coral would already have been >2000 yrs old! Few deep-sea corals have been aged so there are likely many that are much older
🎥:@oceanexplorer

DAY 16: The #deepsea is unfairly labelled 'scary', but in the depths, over-the-top cuteness exists too! This is the Stubby Squid (Rossia pacifica) & it has ridiculous googly eyes. It burrows into the sediment to camouflage, leaving the 👀 poking out to spot prey.
📷 @EVNautilus

DAY 17: Anglerfish loving: a #deepsea #socialdistanching fail!
In the deep sea, it can be difficult to find a mate so male anglerfish have large eyes & huge nostrils to help. When a lucky male finds a lady...1/n
🎥: @LULA1000_FRN @ScienceMagazine @pgirguis

..he is so taken by her amazing scent, gorgeous looks & overwhelming charisma, that he bites her. This biting triggers a hormonal reaction that causes his lips to fuse to her side and his organs to dissolve while his circulatory system fuses with hers.  2/n

Eventually, he becomes nothing more than the female's dangling testis. He gives her sperm, & she gives him everything he needs to stay alive, alleviating the problem of having to find a mate every time the female is ready to reproduce. Can you spot the male in the video above?

DAY 18: Food in the #deepsea is limited, mostly coming from the sea surface as dead plankton. Sometimes a larger chunk of food enters the depths prompting a feeding frenzy. This #swordfish carcass was a rare sight esp as it wasn’t the only thing being eaten! 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 19: #Rabbit fish
• #deepsea #EasterBunny?
• aka #chimera or ghost #shark
• close relative of sharks
• occurs only in deep sea globally
• venomous spine in front of dorsal fin for defence
• dots on the snout & big eyes to detect prey in dark deep sea
🎥 @noaaexploration

DAY 20:

Hoping you have an Eggcellent Easter!

A #deepsea scene reminiscent of many homes today! An Atlantic red 🦀(Chaceon quinquedens) gorging on the eggs of a pallid sculpin, plus amphipods, like ants at a picnic, capitalising on the sloppy feeding!

🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 21: BEHOLD, Deepstaria enigmatica! It’s one of the largest & most mysterious jellyfish. It lacks tentacles, so feeds by encapsulating its prey within its entire gelatinous delicate umbrella. & what are those net-like markings? They’re it’s digestive tract! 🤯 🎥: @EVNautilus

DAY 22: Scientists suspect these gouges at 4153m in Pacific were made by beaked whales! If true, it would extend the deepest dive of any whale by >1.2 km! A reminder that the #deepsea is connected to the sea surface & there are animals able to use all of it!
📷: Marsh et al 2018

DAY 23: This #deepsea #whalefall was found at 3238m off California. It appears to be between the mobile-scavenger stage & the enrichment-opportunist stage as large scavengers are stripping the skeleton of soft tissue, but Osedax worms are also consuming the bones. 🎥: @EVNautilus

God damn it - typo - *its digestive tract.

DAY 24: Osedax worms
-AKA bone-eating zombie worm or mucus snotflower worm
-live on exposed skeletons of dead whales (#whalefall), & big animals
-no gut or mouth
-FASCINATING reproduction- Pic=female. Males=tiny blobs of sperm that hook onto females.

📷: Glover et al 2005

1/2

- Female Osedax =male magnets! 1 female can have hundreds of males. #harem
-Larger (older?) ladies have more males.
-Sex of Osedax larva determined by what it settles on. if settles on bone, turns into female. If settles on female, turns into male.
-Osedax= #deepsea genius?
2/2

DAY 25: This was the 1st time an ind. of the Aphyonidae was seen alive. Many #deepsea species were described from mangled trawl samples, giving false impressions of how they look & providing little info on behaviour. This @oceanexplorer 🎥 suggests these fish are bottom-dwellers

DAY 26: In the #deepsea, the masses, e.g. Enypniastes eximia AKA the headless chicken monster, feed on #marinesnow. This cuke lives on seafloor but can also swim to move more quickly. Hilariously, they sometimes 💩 just before lift off- shedding weight maybe?
🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 27: Hands up if you knew the deep sea is home to the oldest animal ever aged! Monorhaphis chuni, a glass sponge, forms giant spicules that can reach 3m. Those massive spicules take ~11,000 yrs & are the largest silica structures made by an animal on 🌎.
📷: @oceanexplorer

DAY 28: No, this isn’t a sponge or coral. This #deepsea dweller is A SINGLE CELL, but instead of being microscopic, it is the size of a watermelon! The tests made by xenophyophores, giant deep-sea protists, are the largest structures created by a single cell 🤯📷: @oceanexplorer

DAY 29: Not a fact but a plug! TODAY @oceanexplorer will be re-streaming 1 of best dives EVER from 2016 Marianas expedition. Feat. a 10-story hydrothermal vent with 339°C fluids, a snail graveyard, incredible species, & melodious voices of @scourgeseas & I oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/livestreams/re…

DAY 30: A healthy #deepsea —> a healthy #ocean —> a resilient #planet 🌎

The deep sea
-provides >90% habitable space
-is a vast biodiversity repository
-contributes to planetary functions eg climate regulation
-needs better understanding/management

#EarthDay 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 31: If you've been living under a rock for 2 weeks, a cruise studying Ningaloo Canyons #deepsea off W. Australia, came across THE LONGEST ANIMAL EVER! Recorded at ~600m, this beautiful siphonophore, Apolemia, is 45m long & is actually a colony of many zooids
🎥: @SchmidtOcean

DAY 32: The cookiecutter #shark (Isistius brasiliensis)
-named for perfect 5cm bites on large victims
-leaves wound but doesnt kill
-attacks common: most Hawaii adult spinner dolphins have scars & fish in Honolulu Fish Auction bitten (📷: pomfret)
-migrates to/from #deepsea daily

DAY 33: This is the adorable Flapjack Octopus (Opisthoteuthis californiana), a dumbo octopus (or cirrate octopus) named for fins on head. Seen off California, it swims using its fins, pulsing its webbed arms, & pushing water through its funnel.
Cute level: 13/10
🎥: @EVNautilus

DAY 34: Research at 🌎’s deepest hydrothermal vents, Beebe Vents, has focused on the superhot chimneys (DAY 1), the periphery is fascinating too. There are thick white bacterial mats, anemones, shrimp & ophiuroids, most undescribed. Discovered in 2010 at 4987m. 🎥: @NERCscience

DAY 35: If the #deepsea is dark, why are many animals red? Red, the longest wavelength, is quickly filtered from water as depth increases, disappearing <100m. So red animals, e.g. 🦑 Discoteuthis discus, appear invisible as there is no red light to reflect.
🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 36: Fish in the #deepsea migrate! New study correlated fish movements with surface plankton abundance, which varies seasonally. #Fish abundance increased quickly & consistently, suggesting this was a behavioral pattern.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
📷: Craig Smith & Diva Amon

DAY 37: Catsharks (C. cephalus) & cusk eels (C. emmelas) live in #deepsea waters almost w/out oxygen @ 600-900 m off California. O2 concs were <1% of surface water & many times < critical oxygen limits of most hypoxia-tolerant fishes known🎥: @MBARI_News @LlevinAnn @Scripps_Ocean

DAY 38: Big fish we tend to associate with the sea surface inhabit the #deepsea too! The swordfish (X. gladius) was seen feeding at 530m depth in the Gulf of Mexico but can get to >2km. It’s using the sword/bill to side-swipe its prey as never used for stabbing 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 39: On #deepsea swordfish: in 1967, the Alvin sub was at 610m off FL when pilots heard a bang. Out porthole, they saw a large fish thrashing about. After aborting dive, they found an 8-foot swordfish wedged below porthole. Took 2hrs to remove but fed entire crew!
📷: @WHOI

DAY 40: The #deepsea is such a difficult place to work that even large animals go unnoticed. This is the largest known #sponge spotted in 2015 at 2117m in Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. It’s >3.5x2.0x1.5m, a new Rosellidae species & millenia old! 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 41: The Atolla jellyfish is deep red but most #deepsea animals only see this👇🏽bioluminescent display. It’s not used to scare off predators or lure prey....When attacked, it uses as burglar alarm to draw in predators more interested in the attacker than itself! 🎥: @MBARI_News

DAY 42: This was 1st sighting of Pseudoliparis swirei, the deepest fish known! Seen in 2014 @ 8143m in Mariana Trench, it’s since been spotted @ 8178m by @JAMSTEC_PR. The likely-trench-endemic snailfish is 2x length of cigar, translucent & scaleless
🎥: @seagrifo @SchmidtOcean

DAY 43: Scientists sampling xenophyophores at 2000m off Costa Rica in 2019 discovered #deepsea snailfish eggs nestled within the intricate structures. Snailfish often store their eggs into other animals: glass sponges, coral stalks & even crab gills!
📷: @LlevinAnn & G Rouse

DAY 44: Dumbo/finned/cirrate octopus occur in #deepsea down to >5000m, while incirrate/finless are shallower. In 2016, scientists stumbled upon Casper (👻 nickname), a new species & genus, that sets depth record for finless 🐙 @ 4290m & proves they’re ADORABLE! 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 45: Meet Swima bombiviridis! This #deepsea worm is mostly peaceful, but if disturbed, it'll drop bombs! You might spot the small green sacs just behind its head. When disturbed, these are released, glowing green, distracting the predator & allowing escape.
🎥: @MBARI_News

DAY 46: This Crossota hydromedusa was seen @ 3700m in the Marianas. Apart from being amazing, it’s likely a new species but as we didn’t collect, it remains a mystery of the deep! Long tentacles extended outward & motionless = ambush position. Yellow = gonads. 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 47: Using timelapse 📷 >4000m off California, scientists saw a glass #sponge expanding & contracting. Freshwater sponges do similar over ~40mins, but in deep sea, a single cycle took hrs to weeks. The #deepsea is dynamic but operates at a slower pace than us! 🎥: @MBARI_News

DAY 48: Giant isopods, Bathynomus giganteus, are excellent mums. They raise their young from babies all the way to near-perfectly formed adults in a brood pouch or marsupium. #HappyMothersDay to all! For more #deepsea mums, check out Days 7 & 8 in the series. 🎥: @oceanexplorer

DAY 49: Alvinella pompejana (📷) & Paralvinella sulfincola are 2 of most heat-tolerant animals known, living at hot ends of #deepsea hydrothermal vents in Pacific. Record is ~45-60deg, but jury is still out which takes 👑 as water muddied by behaviour & physiology 📷: Kanijoman

Forgot to say massive thanks to @pgirguis fo talking through this fact with me!

DAY 50: The #skate, Bathyraja spinosissima, is picking up the pace in the cold #deepsea. They likely use the warmer temps of Galapagos hydrothermal vents to incubate their eggs & speed up embryo development. Handy as they have 1 of the longest egg incubation times!🎥: @EVNautilus

SO, the Lockdown (may have) ended today in London. What does the future hold for this deep-sea series? Should I:

DAY 51: While we wait for the poll results 👆🏿& because its #WormWednesday, check out this #deepsea beauty. Peinaleopolynoe orphanae, named for @OrphanANME, 1 of 4 new species of #deepsea scale worms that @Scripps_Ocean scientists discovered at food falls & vents.📸:Greg Rouse 1/2

And look at this adorable video of them mum can I have one theyre soooooo cute look at them shuffling along and doing little shakey dances why are they fighting wait they need scales to protect them from bite attacks with crazy proboscis I don’t want it anymore #wormwednesday 2/2