Census Shows Connectedness of World's Marine Life
Census of Marine Life photo
A Census of Marine Life photo shows a new species of scorpionfish found in the Indo-Pacific area. Much of the marine world remains to be explored, so vast are the seas.
Hydrothermal vent snail found
A hydrothermal vent snail (Alviniconcha sp.) found in Suiyo Seamount, Tokyo Hydrothermal Vent, is seen in this undated handout picture. Scientists completed a 10-year census of marine life on October 4, 2010, after finding thousands of exotic new species in a project that will help assess threats to the oceans ranging from climate change to BP's oil spill. The $650 million international census, by 2,700 experts in 80 nations, discovered creatures such as a hairy-clawed "yeti crab", luminous fish in the sunless depths, a shrimp thought extinct in Jurassic times and a 7-metre (23 ft) long squid
Polychaete worm found, Japan at depth
A polychaete worm (vigtorniella sp) found at a whale fall at Sagami Bay, Japan at a depth of 925 meters, is seen in this undated handout. Scientists completed a 10-year census of marine life on October 4, 2010, after finding thousands of exotic new species in a project that will help assess threats to the oceans ranging from climate change to BP's oil spill. The $650 million international census, by 2,700 experts in 80 nations, discovered creatures such as the hairy-clawed "yeti crab", luminous fish in the sunless depths, a shrimp thought extinct in Jurassic times and a 7-metre (23 ft) long squid. Whale fall is the term used for a whale carcass that has dropped to the ocean floor.
New copepod, Ceratonotus
A new copepod, Ceratonotus steiningeri, which was first discovered 5,400 meters deep in the Angola Basin in 2006, is seen in this undated handout. Scientists completed a 10-year census of marine life on October 4, 2010, after finding thousands of exotic new species in a project that will help assess threats to the oceans ranging from climate change to BP's oil spill. The $650 million international census, by 2,700 experts in 80 nations, discovered creatures such as the hairy-clawed "yeti crab", luminous fish in the sunless depths, a shrimp thought extinct in Jurassic times and a 7-metre (23 ft) long squid.
Dragonfish that even has teeth on its tongue
This undated handout photo provided by the Census for Marine Life shows a dragonfish that even has teeth on its tongue. They would be terrifying animals if they weren't the size of a banana.
Fishing lure
This undated handout photo provided by the Census for Marine Life shows the Sargassum Fish (Histrio histrio), a member of the frogfish family (Antennariidae), a group of small, globular fishes with stalked, grasping, limb-like pectoral fins with small gill openings behind the base, a trapdoor-like mouth high on the head, and a 'fishing lure' (formed by the first dorsal spine) on the snout. It typically lives in open waters in close association with floating Sargassum Weed (Sargassum natans and S. fluitans), but is frequently blown into nearshore and bay waters during storms. Although the Sargassum Fish is capable of swimming quite rapidly, it often crawls through the Sargassum Weed, using its pectoral fins like arms.
Eaugaptilis hyperboreus
In this undated photo provided by Census of Marine Life, a deepwater copepod, Eaugaptilis hyperboreus, bearing its eggs, is shown. Half way into a census of the world's oceans, researchers say they are finding both rich diversity in the sea along with signs of decline for many species
Transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes
This undated photo released by Census of Marine Life and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows a transparent sea cucumber, Enypniastes, creeping forward on its many tentacles at about 2 cm per minute while sweeping detritus-rich sediment into its mouth at 2,750 meters in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Thousands of marine species eke out an existence in the ocean's pitch-black depths by feeding on the snowlike decaying matter that cascades down, and even sunken whale bones, according to a report released Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009.
Census of Marine Life
In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a sand-flea hyperoche capucinus, a common predator swimming in polar waters. (AP Photo/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, Russ Hopcroft)
Census of Marine Life
In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a chionodraco hamatus, one of the Antarcticís ice fish, which can withstand temperatures that freeze the blood of all other types of fish. (AP Photo/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, Russ Hopcroft
Census of Marine Life
In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a bean-sized swimming snail, limacina helicina, occurring in both Arctic and Antarctic waters. It spins a mucus-net off its paddle-like foot-wings to trap algae and other small particles on which it feeds.
Census of Marine Life
In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a shell-less pteropod or swimming snail, clione limacina, found in both Arctic and Antarctic waters, which preys exclusively on its fellow shelled pteropods.
Census of Marine Life
In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a marble-sized jellyfish, calycopsis borchgrevinki, which is one of the more common hydromedusae encountered in Antarctic waters. (AP Photo/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, Russ Hopcroft)
Census of Marine Life
In this undated photo released by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, is shown a ghost-like sea-angel, platybrachium antarcticum, going through the deep Antarctic waters hunting the shelled pteropods (another type of snail) on which it feeds. (AP Photo/University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life, Russ Hopcroft)
Acantharians are one of four types of large amoebae
This undated handout image provided by the Census of Marine Life shows, the acantharians are one of the four types of large amoebae that occur in marine open waters. Their fragile skeletons are made of a single crystal of strontium sulfate that quickly dissolves in the ocean water after the cell dies. If the Census Bureau thinks it has it;s hands full counting Americans, imagine the problems of scientists trying to tally everything living in the oceans, including microbes so small they seem invisible.
Hairy-clawed `` yeti crab '' is seen
A hairy-clawed "yeti crab" is seen in this handout picture taken in 2006. Scientists completed a 10-year census of marine life on October 4, 2010, after finding thousands of exotic new species in a project that will help assess threats to the oceans ranging from climate change to BP's oil spill. The $650 million international census, by 2,700 experts in 80 nations, discovered creatures such as the hairy-clawed "yeti crab", luminous fish in the sunless depths, a shrimp thought extinct in Jurassic times and a 7-metre (23 ft) long squid.
Sunflower Sea Stars
File photo issued by the Census of Marine Life shows Sunflower Sea Stars photographed in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Results of the first-ever global marine life census have been unveiled, revealing an unprecedented view of life beneath the waves after a decade-long trawl through the murky depths.
Photo released by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
Photo released by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park shows coral damaged by bleaching, often a result of warming sea temperatures. An estimated 80 percent of marine species in Australia have not yet been described by scientists.
