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🚨Our spidey senses say these aren’t spiders! 🚨

[mbari-blog]

Spotted: everyone's new favorite worm. 🐽🍑⁠

This stubby celebrity is trending across the interwebs and we can see why! Our team first spotted the unusual pigbutt worm (Chaetopterus pugaporcinus) in 2001 and had a tough time determining how to categorize such a curious and tiny critter. At about the size of a hazelnut, it took the eagle eyes of our expert biologists to spot these miniature orbs in the massive ocean. ⁠ ⁠ In the lab, we saw that Chaetopterus pugaporcinus is segmented like other bristle worms. However, the segments are highly compressed in the front and back ends, while the midsection is greatly inflated, probably to help keep the animal afloat. Sequencing the pigbutt’s DNA established that they fit into the family Chaetopteridae. Members of this group of worms typically live attached to the seafloor in parchment-like tubes, although they do have a free-swimming larval stage. The mix of both larval and adult features seen in the pigbutt worm is certainly unusual.⁠ ⁠ And if that wasn't extraordinary enough, we also learned that these incredible worms are bioluminescent! They produce blue light in their body tissues as well as green glowing mucous secretions, an adaptation that may be used to deter predators. ⁠

Learn more about these wonderful worms on our website.

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Spending some quality time with the sparkly squid, Taonius borealis. 🦑🌠

Glass squids (family Cranchiidae) live in the boundless waters of the twilight, or mesopelagic, zone. With no protective shell and nowhere to shelter, they use transparency to thrive in a home with few places to hide.

More than 60 species of glass squids live in deep twilight waters around the world. Some are little more than 10 centimeters (four inches) long, but others are giants. In fact, the largest of all squids—the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), nearly 10 meters (33 feet) long and weighing up to 495 kilograms (1,091 pounds)—belongs to the family Cranchiidae. We typically see smaller species like this peacock squid because the larger ones are faster swimmers that can easily elude our slow-moving submersibles.

Learn more about these splendid squids on our website.

[mbari-blog]

La vie en rose 💕

MBARI's remotely operated vehicle observed these brilliant basket stars on Davidson Seamount at 1,498 meters (4,915 feet) deep. Basket stars (Gorgonocephalus eucnemis) are common at seamounts. These underwater mountains deflect the currents running along the deep seafloor, concentrating food and supporting a rich community of life. ⁠ ⁠ A basket star’s repeatedly branching arms bear microscopic hooks and secrete sticky mucus to help grab planktonic prey. After snagging a morsel of food, the arm curls into a tight knot and passes it to the mouth beneath the star’s central disc.

Learn more about these sensational stars on our website.

[mbari-blog]

Welcome to FathomVerse 🦑🐟🦀

A new mobile game launching today allows anyone with a smartphone or tablet to take part in ocean exploration and discovery. Now available for download on the App Store and Google Play, FathomVerse allows players to interact with real underwater images to improve the artificial intelligence that helps researchers study ocean life. 

Scientists are collecting massive amounts of images and video to study marine life and assess ocean health. AI can help researchers analyze this deluge of visual data more efficiently. Before AI can be used for ocean exploration, machine learning models need to be trained to identify ocean animals. 

FathomVerse seeks to address this challenge by engaging ocean enthusiasts around the world to help review and label images so AI can correctly recognize ocean animals. The game combines immersive imagery, compelling gameplay, and cutting-edge science to inspire a new wave of ocean explorers. Learn more on our website.

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It's time for everyone's favorite guessing game—who's eating whom?⁠

Is it the little jelly Aegina snacking on a much larger siphonophore? Or did the siphonophore snag a delicious deep-sea dinner?⁠

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Our favorite yoga pose—the shrimp squat.

Researchers often find these small shrimp, Hymenopenaeus doris, hanging upside down, motionless in the water.

While performing this “zombie-like“ behavior, the shrimp look a lot like a discarded exoskeleton sinking slowly through the dark midwater. Scientists speculate that the shrimp might reduce their chances of being eaten by mimicking a sinking molt.

This odd behavior might also be an adaptation to conserve energy since the shrimp live at depths where the seawater contains very little oxygen. Animals found in low-oxygen environments have a harder time moving rapidly or for long distances.

Learn more about these deep-sea yogis on our YouTube channel.

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Deep-sea ASMR brought to you by a robot unspooling a cable. 〰️

MBARI's underwater hydrophone sits on the seafloor about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from shore, just west of Monterey Bay. It is attached (by this neat neon cable) to the MARS undersea cabled observatory, which carries data from the hydrophone back to shore.

Although the MARS hydrophone is located on the deep seafloor, most of the sounds it picks up are from animals and activities higher up in the water or even at the sea surface. For example, it is common for the hydrophone to pick up the calls of sea lions, dolphins, and other near-surface animals, as well as the sounds of rain, waves, and wind blowing over the sea surface.

Interested in listening to the ocean soundscape? Anyone can eavesdrop on sounds in the deep sea via a continuous audio stream that carries live sound from 900 meters (3,000 feet) below the surface of Monterey Bay. Start your auditory adventure here.

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Shining a light on the origins of bioluminescence ✨✨

A new study led by MBARI collaborators at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History explores the evolution of bioluminescence, nature’s living light show. A team of researchers, including MBARI Senior Scientist Steven Haddock, has learned bioluminescence first evolved in animals at least 540 million years ago in soft corals.

Scientists have long been curious about the evolution of bioluminescence. To tackle the larger question of why bioluminescence evolved, we needed to know when this ability first appeared in animals. In search of the trait’s earliest origins, the team decided to peer back into the evolutionary history of octocorals, an ancient and frequently bioluminescent group of animals that includes soft corals, sea fans, and sea pens. 

Mapping out the branches of the evolutionary tree from fossil records, genetics, and bioluminescent behaviors revealed that some 540 million years ago, the common ancestor of all octocorals was very likely bioluminescent. That is 273 million years earlier than the glowing ostracod crustaceans that previously held the title of earliest evolution of bioluminescence in animals.

MBARI’s Biodiversity and Biooptics Team is working to understand how and why animals produce their stunning luminescence. Learn more about this illuminating research on our website.

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Too often, MBARI’s advanced underwater robots encounter trash.

Even miles beneath the ocean’s surface we find garbage, much of it plastic. Plastic pollution puts deep-sea animals at risk. On the seafloor, bags and other plastic trash can smother marine life. In the midwater, drifting debris can entangle or choke animals or damage their delicate structures.

Over time plastic trash breaks down into smaller and smaller bits and pieces called microplastic. Microplastics have been found throughout the ocean, from the surface to the seafloor. We still don't understand how microplastics are impacting marine communities. MBARI research is revealing our close connection to the ocean—how it sustains us and how human actions affect marine animals and environments.

To protect the amazing animals of the deep, we need to stem the tide of plastic pollution. Single-use plastic items—like water bottles, takeout containers, coffee lids, straws, and shopping bags—make up a large percent of plastic waste. By refusing plastic packaging and choosing reusable alternatives, we can make a significant dent in ocean plastic pollution. Learn more about trash in the deep sea on our website.

Learn what you can do from MBARI’s education and conservation partner, the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

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We get pretty excited about the common siphonophore. What’s not to love?

We’re thrilled to be the first public aquarium in the world to culture and raise these delightful drifters. While these animals are incredibly fragile and difficult to see, they’re abundant and can be found throughout the ocean!

Siphonophores are colonies of tiny animals called “zooids”, and they play an important role in the oceanic food webs.

Thank you to our colleagues at @mbari-blog for the common siphonophore footage! Check out their website to learn more about these magnificent mysteries!

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A deep-sea coral's secret weapon against hungry predators—sweeper tentacles.

A bamboo coral’s stony branches contain thousands of tiny polyps living and working together. The individual polyps stretch feathery tentacles into the currents to grasp plankton and other particles of food drifting in the currents.

When predators like nudibranchs and sea stars try to make a meal of a coral’s polyps, the colony can put up a fight. These fleshy sweeper tentacles are loaded with powerful stinging cells that gently sway along the base of this shaggy bamboo coral (Isidella tentaculum) to keep predators from crawling up to eat those precious polyps.

Learn more about these captivating corals on our website.

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With a puffy and prickly body, the spiny star (Hippasteria sp.) is easy to spot on the deep seafloor.

These stars roam the seafloor searching for a delicious dinner, and a hungry Hippasteria can be quite particular when it comes to feeding. For some, sea pens or anemones are their sole preference. Here in our backyard, spiny stars seek out prey that is particularly prevalent in the Monterey Bay and beyond: deep-sea corals.

While some corals have evolved protective stinging sweeper tentacles to deter hungry predators, spiny stars are determined in their quest for a nutritious feast. They use tiny tube feet to scale a towering coral. When they find a good spot to stop, they wrap their arms around the stalk to hang on tight, then extrude their stomach out of their mouth to devour the juicy coral polyps.

Hippasteria are important in restructuring the habitats where they live. As they leave dead coral skeletons behind, homes for new animals are created. This natural turnover keeps the community healthy and helps foster diversity among the fishes and invertebrates that live there.

Animals that live deep in the ocean thrive in cold water and high salinity. Changes in climate at the surface ripple down to the depths below. Warmer and more acidic waters put deep-sea corals—and the animals that depend on them for food and shelter—at risk.

Studying the animals of the deep is increasingly urgent. Overfishing, pollution, and climate change all threaten the deep ocean. What we learn in the field and in the lab improves our baseline understanding of deep-sea communities so we can assess and track ongoing human impacts on the animals and habitats far beneath the ocean’s surface.

Learn more about the spiny star and other fascinating animals of the deep at our Animals of the Deep gallery.

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Sit back and enjoy 10 relaxing minutes at the Octopus Garden

Deep below the ocean’s surface, just off the Central California coast, thousands of pearl octopus (Muusoctopus robustus) gather near an extinct underwater volcano. MBARI and a team of collaborators used high-tech tools to monitor the Octopus Garden and learn exactly why this site is so attractive to these animals. After three years of study, researchers confirmed that Muusoctopus gather at the Octopus Garden to mate and nest in cracks and crevices bathed by deep-sea thermal springs.

This site is the largest known aggregation of octopus anywhere in the world, with more than 20,000 octopus nests. The abundance of other marine life that thrives there underscores the need to understand and protect hotspots of life on the deep seafloor from threats like climate change and seabed mining.

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These deep-dwelling fish can see through their own foreheads.⁠

Even in a world full of adaptations for seeing in near-total darkness, the barreleye fish (Macropinna microstoma) stands out as one of the most bizarre. Two small indentations where eyes might normally appear on a fish are actually the barreleye’s olfactory organs, and its eyes are two glowing green orbs behind its face that gaze up towards the top of its head.⁠ ⁠ In 2009, MBARI researchers showed that the fish can rotate its eyes towards the front to see its food when eating. Before that, scientists believed that the barreleye’s gaze was fixed looking straight up. Researchers think that the fish hovers below a siphonophore’s tentacles to steal food.⁠

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Spectacular seafloor finds. 💜

This is Psychropotes longicauda, one of the sea cucumber species commonly observed at MBARI’s research site Station M. These sea cucumbers grow from 75 to 150 millimeters (three to six inches) long and feed on detritus that drifts down from surface waters. This group of sea cucumbers is found worldwide in very deep waters ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 meters (6,560 to 19,685 feet). Although they have the ability to swim, researchers aren’t exactly sure what the large fin is used for in this species.

Long-term studies at Station M have revealed that this species of sea cucumber seems to prefer eating older detritus that has been partially decomposed by bacteria. The observations made over the last three decades of research at Station M provide a glimpse into the dynamics of life on the ocean floor.

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Meet MBARI: The Video Lab is the team at the heart of our stunning deep-sea video

In 36 years of deep-sea discoveries, MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles have completed more than 7,300 successful dives and recorded approximately 29,000 hours of deep-sea footage. The MBARI Video Lab team is at the heart of this treasure trove of visual data. This video archive includes more than 10 million observations about what we see on video—animals, behaviors, interactions, geological features, marine debris, and more—along with location, depth, and surrounding habitat characteristics.

Video is a powerful tool for studying the ocean. Cameras on MBARI’s advanced underwater robots help our scientists discover remarkable new species, describe communities, and assess ocean health. We’ve amassed a unique archive of deep-sea video that’s essential for research groups across the institute and beyond. The Video Lab’s deep-sea experts comb through thousands of hours of footage with eagle eyes to identify and label animals and objects we film.

MBARI’s video library is a rich repository for education and outreach too. The Video Lab works closely with the Science Communication Team to produce videos and create other content that utilizes these invaluable archives to tell compelling stories about our research.