Lamarckdromia

• Is there life in the sea that hasn’t been discovered?
• – Haven W., age 12, McKinney, Texas
  Is there life in the sea that hasn’t been discovered?
• Every ocean life form has to find a way to gather nourishment, reproduce and contribute to an ecological community.
• The ocean is thousands of feet deep in many areas and offers millions of opportunities for life to thrive.

Black and white smokers

• Then they found them, at spots called hydrothermal vents – first with underwater cameras and thermometers, next by sending humans down in Alvin, an underwater vehicle.
• The researchers found spots where hot water jetted upward through cracks in the seafloor, like geysers on land.
• I was working at the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, which designed and built Alvin, when black smokers were discovered.
• In fact, Alvin has been updated many times; scientists are still using it to explore deep reaches of the ocean.

Fluffy crabs and glowing worms

• Just in the past two years, researchers have found dozens of new species in the oceans.
• For example, there’s the “fluffy” sponge crab (Lamarckdromia beagle), which decorates its shell with sponges, probably as camouflage from predators.
• Three of the most intriguing new species are bioluminescent sea worms that emit a bluish-violet light.
• The researchers who found the worms in shallow waters near Japan named one Polycirrus Ikeguchi, after a notable Japanese marine biologist named Shinichiro Ikeguchi.