By imaging the seafloor with our underwater camera vehicle we can learn a lot about the organisms that live there. One of the main things we look to determine is the population density of the seafloor organisms at various depths and temperatures.
But in order to assess the population densities of these organisms we have to be sure we know what they are.
Collecting live samples of these organisms allows us to properly identify them, as well as study their physical characteristics more closely.
In order to sample the Antarctic deep sea our team deployed a trawl net to various depths allowing it to go along the bottom picking up the organisms in front of it. The trawl net is 5 feet wide by 15 feet long with weights on the bottom and buoys on the top.
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| The trawl net being deployed over the back of the ship. |
Hoping to collect many of the organisms we see in the seafloor images, our team was ecstatic to find all that and even more!
Here are some of the organisms our team collected from our deep sea sampling:
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| A brittle star. |
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| An octopus, about 1 foot long. |
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| A sea cucumber. |
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| A sea spider. |
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| A cup coral. |
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| Two octopus, the larger is about 2 inches long. |
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| Heart urchins. |
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| A species of gastropod. |
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| A seastar, about half and inch wide. |
Out of This World!
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