Deepest Octopus Nursery Discovered, Holds Dark Secret

[Judi Lynn]

Submersible footage reveals hundreds of mother octopi brooding their eggs more than a mile deep.


By Carrie Arnold
PUBLISHED APRIL 20, 2018

Nothing about the hundreds of octopus moms on the video feed from the submersible Alvin looked right.

"Those octopus shouldn't be there," Janet Voight, a marine biologist at the Field Museum in Chicago, said when she saw the footage.

The research vessel was exploring a rocky outcrop about 1.2 miles deep and 150 miles off Costa Rica's Pacific coast—far deeper than any other known octopus nursery, and (in theory) too warm.

"It was jaw-dropping," says Anne Hartwell, a research assistant at the University of Akron in Ohio, who led a new study on the 2014 footage of the octomoms guarding their precious eggs. (See our most beautiful octopus pictures.)

More:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/animals-octopuses-deep-sea-oceans/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Bizarre Squid Seen Alive for First Time

The deep-sea creature, which might be a new species, has marine biologists flummoxed.

By Michael Greshko
PUBLISHED APRIL 20, 2018

In the Gulf of Mexico, a strange creature lurks in the deep: a blood-red squid with stubby arms, missing tentacles, and a knack for swimming like a nautilus.

The unusual squid, which might or might not be a new species, was filmed on April 17 by the crew of the Okeanos Explorer, a research vessel run by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Charged with exploring Earth's largely unknown deep waters, the Okeanos Explorer has captured extraordinary footage over the years. Previous expeditions have filmed strange glowing jellyfish, a ghostly octopus nicknamed “Casper,” and deep-sea “krakens” fighting inside of a shipwreck. From now until May 3, 2018, the ship will be broadcasting its undersea adventures live on YouTube.

But on April 17, researchers got a surprise: Thousands of feet beneath the surface in the western Gulf of Mexico, the Okeanos Explorer's remote-controlled submarine spotted a creature that, at first, didn't resemble a squid at all.

More:
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/04/squid-noaa-okeanos-explorer-animals-spd/

[kysrsoze]

2. Those octopi.

n/t

[BigmanPigman]

3. I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus's garden in the shade....