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New Deep Ocean Creatures

An anonymous reader writes "NORFANZ was a recent expedition that went really deep into the ocean in the search for new species that live in the largely unchartered waters of the Tasman Sea. Check out the site and some very cool pics."

12 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Re:also of interest by Trigun · · Score: 4, Informative

    It turned out to be a rotting corpse of a giant sea squid.

  2. Actually... by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 3, Informative

    "How do they taste?"

    Check out some of the older fish determination guides: some of them actually have information on the tastiness listed with each fish. These won't be in the guides though.

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  3. For those so inclined by IWantMoreSpamPlease · · Score: 4, Informative

    to own a "coffinfish", a species very close in look and character can be had easily. The marine fish is known as a "frogfish" and are highly interesting creatures to keep in a dedicated reef-tank.

    Just FYI

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  4. Re:also of interest by Trigun · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the RedNova article on it.

  5. Fangtooth pic by hether · · Score: 3, Informative

    The BBC had this story a week or two ago: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3017078.stm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3034520.stm

    I didn't see the picture of the fangtooth on the link provided in the story above so wanted to share. Perhaps I just missed it? A couple of the other pics are different too I think.

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  6. Cyrano was real, though. by Medievalist · · Score: 4, Informative

    In the Pacific Spookfish caption it says:

    "In the USA it is known as a Long-nosed Chimaera while in Europe they use the common name Cyrano Chimaera, named after the fictional French character Cyrano de Bergerac, who had a very long nose"

    Savien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655) is not a fictional character.

    I emailed this nitpick in to the website, with a few details of de Bergerac's biography. Perhaps it will be fixed anon.

  7. New tape of squid by singularity · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, this is not about the large piece of blubber that they found on the beach.

    This article has pictures and a video of a very cool new large species of squid. It seems to fly through the water with wings, and has cool alien-like arms coming off the rear of it.

    Amazing that is has been spotted in four different oceans, but no one has seen it before. It says a lot about how much we do not know about the oceans.

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  8. As fisheries are wiped out, fishermen go deeper. by Medievalist · · Score: 5, Informative


    For example, the formerly plentiful Patagonian and Antarctic Toothfishes (known in the restaurant trade as "Chilean Sea Bass" despite being amazingly ugly deep-sea dwellers) are well on their way to being fished to extinction.

    Like many large fish, they have a long reproductive cycle, and thus are easily driven to extinction by modern fishing methods. Not that the fishing industry as a whole isn't fishing pretty much everything to commercial extinction, but they can do it a lot faster to species that take a long time to become reproductive adults.

  9. Blue Planet - Seas of Life by phildog · · Score: 4, Informative
    If you find this stuff at all interesting, I urge you to check out the 8 part miniseries Blue Planet - Seas of Life. These originally aired in the US on the Discovery channel (I believe the BBC was the first), but you can still get the DVDs from the merchant of your choice. I'm not sure the 2nd four episodes are on DVD yet.

    The Discovery Channel Website doesn't indicate that these will air again anytime in the near future. You will also note that the Discovery Channel's web strategy is severely lacking because there is no way to have them notify you when it is coming on again. Or are they just being obscure because they reap more profits from DVD sales?

    But I digress, this series kicks ass. It doesn't focus solely on the deep-sea critters, but rather casts a wide net. If you saw this show and were not completely freaked out by the presence of crazy brine pools at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, you aren't very curious about the world you live on.

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  10. Re:Old by Sgt+York · · Score: 3, Informative
    Nutrient flux to the bottom plays a huge role in the deep water ecosystem. With no light, there is no photosynthesis, so the bottom of the food chain difffers from what we are used to. If there is a vent nearby, the creatures that feed off it's heat & chemicals form the base of the food chain. If there is no vent, the only source of food is the manna from above. Animals that die and sink, feces, solid runoff from shores, etc form the bottom of the food chain. Detritus fills the place of plants, scavengers take the place of herbivores, and predators, well, they're still predators.

    It is conceivable that at times of massive kills at the surface (comet/asteroid strikes, climate change) the flux of food increased rapidly. This would give rise to a brief period of intense growth, coupled with an increase in the diversity in each species. Once the feast is over, there will be a massive die-off (i.e., selection event) as the scavengers, then predators starve.

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  11. Re:also of interest by sbszine · · Score: 3, Informative

    You might also like to read the slashdot story.

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  12. Re:Is anyone else afraid? by nadaou · · Score: 3, Informative

    So my question is, before I goto google for a bit, does anyone have any links to helpful sources for the preservation of our Oceans?

    Yes.

    Check out the PEW Oceans Commision's final report, released last month. Everything you want to know, without the spin.

    "Scientists, fishermen, conservationists, elected leaders, and business officials unveil recommendations to avert decline of ocean wildlife and collapse of ocean ecosystems"

    http://www.pewoceans.org/

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