Aug 8
“Company? We pondered this as our new friend.”
Aquapricot Mail (c.1970s vintage magazine up-cycle)
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“Company? We pondered this as our new friend.”
Aquapricot Mail (c.1970s vintage magazine up-cycle)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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A little deep-sea wonder for your Friday 💙✨️
This siphonophore, Erenna richardi, can be identified by the massive clusters of tentilla (the side branches of the tentacle) at the end of the tail (siphosome). In Monterey Bay, this species has been observed at average depths of about 1,100 meters (3,600 feet). These siphonophores are armed with a battery of powerful stinging tentacles, and researchers have seen them ensnaring fish just above the seafloor. Historically, gelatinous animals have been challenging to study. Their delicate nature makes them difficult to collect, especially from the ocean’s depths. By using deep-diving robots—remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs—MBARI and our collaborators are revealing the dazzling diversity of delicate drifters that lies beneath the surface.
Home is where your crinoid is 💜⭐
MBARI researchers were delighted to spot this purple goiter sponge and its resident crinoid during an expedition to the Taney Seamounts, a chain of ancient underwater volcanoes west of Monterey Bay. The Taney Seamounts formed about 26 million years ago near a mid-ocean ridge. They have thick deposits of fragmental volcanic debris on the flanks and very large, overlapping calderas, evidence of repeated explosive eruptions and caldera collapse.
Seamounts are biodiversity hotspots. Their rocky slopes provide the hard surfaces that corals and sponges need to grow, while ocean currents deliver a steady supply of plankton and nutrient-rich marine snow. Together, these conditions create thriving communities for deep-sea life.
Mapping one of the ocean’s most extraordinary neighborhoods 🌊
Earlier this month, Principal Engineer Dave Caress led a 10-day expedition aboard MBARI’s flagship research vessel David Packard to conduct high-resolution seafloor surveys with the remotely operated vehicle Doc Ricketts and the Low-Altitude Survey System developed by MBARI engineers. Combining sonar, lidar, stereo photography, and next-generation navigation technologies, this innovative sensor suite enabled the team to capture high-resolution, centimeter-scale maps of Octopus Garden—an octopus nursery near Davidson Seamount—and other deep-sea habitats.
These detailed surveys will help researchers monitor changes over time, better understand how geology shapes deep-sea ecosystems, and guide future expeditions exploring one of the ocean’s most remarkable biological hotspots.
This recent expedition aboard our state-of-the-art flagship vessel highlights MBARI’s expanded capacity for ocean exploration, enabling us to deploy innovative technologies to answer fundamental questions about marine life and ecosystems to help resource managers and policymakers protect unique communities of life thriving deep underwater. Learn more on our website.
Coming face to face with Caribbean reef sharks off the coast of Roatán in the Bay Islands. The popularity of freediving – or apnea – is grow
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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#tfw you're trying really hard to hide from Monday 😶🌫️
Feather stars are part of an ancient group of echinoderms called crinoids. They're distant relatives of the sea stars and sea urchins you might find in coastal tide pools. Feather stars cling to rocks, corals, and sponges with claw-like appendages called cirri.
Those same rocky habitats provide shelter for plenty of other deep-sea animals. Basket stars (Gorgonocephalus eucnemis) perch high above the seafloor, stretching out their branched arms to catch zooplankton and other drifting food.
Many species of rockfish spend long periods sitting nearly motionless among rocks and corals, waiting for unsuspecting prey to swim by while staying hidden from predators. Sometimes the best hiding place is simply not moving. 🙃
Who knew predators could be this pretty? 🩷✨
The abyssal comb jelly (Beroe abyssicola) patrols the midnight zone searching for its favorite food—other comb jellies. When Beroe find their next meal, rows of tiny hair-like cilia lining their mouths act like teeth, helping them grip onto prey before taking a bite—or sometimes swallowing another comb jelly whole. MBARI researchers have learned that gelatinous animals like Beroe play a much bigger role in deep-sea food webs than scientists once realized. By analyzing nearly 28,000 hours of deep-sea video, we've documented hundreds of feeding interactions, revealing that jellies, comb jellies, and siphonophores are not just graceful drifters; they're important predators and prey in the ocean's midnight zone.
Just out for a little glide 〰️
Skates are close relatives of sharks and rays that use their broad, wing-like pectoral fins to glide effortlessly across the seafloor. They are found in a variety of ocean habitats around the world.
While we know a lot about the skates that dwell in shallow coastal waters, we know relatively little about those that call the ocean’s inky depths their home. Observations from our advanced underwater robots have provided valuable information about deep-dwelling skates. Video recorded by our robotic submersibles is cataloged with detailed environmental data.
This roughtail skate (Bathyraja trachura) is especially tolerant of low-oxygen environments. While other skates may occasionally visit these oxygen-starved waters, this is the only species that can stay there consistently.
As climate change expands oxygen minimum zones in the ocean, understanding which species can tolerate these challenging conditions helps scientists predict how deep-sea ecosystems may change in the future. The more we learn about deep-sea sharks, skates, and rays, the better we can protect them and their habitats.