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Jumbo "Dumbo"
Photograph courtesy Census of Marine Life
A newfound creature nicknamed "Dumbo" (pictured) may look like it's all ears--but the protrusions are actually fins that help propel the animal through the darkness 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) under the sea.
Netted during a recent Census of Marine Life (CoML) expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, this Dumbo is among the thousands of deep-sea creatures the census has documented so far that live without ever knowing sunlight. Reaching six feet (two meters) in length and weighing 13 pounds (6 kilograms), the jumbo Dumbo is the largest of the octopus-like animals ever found.
(Related: "PHOTOS: New Deep-Sea Species Revealed by Marine Census.")
"The deep sea is Earth's largest continuous ecosystem and largest habitat for life," said CoML expedition member Chris German, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in a statement. "It is also the least studied."
The census is a ten-year effort among marine biologists around the world to catalog and understand ocean life. More than 210 expeditions will examine and document the 95 percent of Earth's oceans that remain relatively unexplored. A final report will be unveiled in October 2010.Published November 22, 2009
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Neocyema Fish
Photograph courtesy Census of Marine Life
Found at depths of up to 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers), this bizarre orange fish, called Neocyema, is only the fifth specimen of the species ever captured--and the first seen on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, scientists said in November 2009.
During their ongoing survey of deep-sea oddities, CoML scientists have employed deep-towed cameras, sonar, and other technologies to detect 17,650 species and counting--from crabs to shrimps to worms--that live without sunlight.
In the eternally dark depths, these creatures have evolved strange adaptations. Some depend on animals that live in the waters above--such as whales--to die and drift down, which others, such as bacteria, actually eat oil, sulfur, or methane. (Related: "New Worms Eat (and Eat and Eat) Only on Dead Whales.")Published November 22, 2009
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Enypniastes Sea Cucumber
Photograph courtesy Census of Marine Life
This see-through sea cucumber, dubbed Enypniastes (pictured), was spotted at depths of about 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) during a 2009 expedition in the northern Gulf of Mexico, scientists say. (See pictures of a deep-sea fish with a transparent head.)
The strange invertebrate creeps forward on its many tentacles while sweeping sediments filled with tiny critters into its mouth. When it's ready to find another feeding ground, the sea cucumber "blooms into a startling curved shape and swims away," CoML team members said in a statement.Published November 22, 2009
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Tiny Copepod
Photograph courtesy Census of Marine Life
What looks like an ancient gold treasure is actually a tiny copepod (shown magnified). The crustacean was among 680 copepod specimens--most new to science--that were collected during a 2009 expedition in the Atlantic abyss.
"The abyssal fauna is so rich in species diversity and so poorly described that collecting a known species is an anomaly," CoML team member David Billett, of the U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre, said in a statement.
"Describing for the first time all the different species in any coffee cup-size sample of deep-sea sediment is a daunting challenge."Published November 22, 2009
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"Cute Dumbo"
Photograph courtesy Census of Marine Life
CoML expeditions found nine species of gelatinous Dumbos on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, including this Grimpoteuthis discoveryi, also called the cute Dumbo, scientists said in November 2009.
Researchers were surprised to discover such a plentiful and diverse assemblage of these octopus-like animals, which rank among the largest in the deep sea.Published November 22, 2009
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