Flying sea cucumbers, glowing spiny sea urchins, and giant lobsters have been captured by specialized cameras in the deep waters off the Australian coast.
the main points:
- Specialized technology is giving scientists a rare window into the world of life in the deep sea
- Two different camera systems captured glowing spiny sea urchins, giant crabs, and sea cucumbers
- The data is used by Parks Australia to better understand and protect marine parks across the country
The two cameras revealed unprecedented behaviors, including sea cucumbers – nicknamed “headless chicken monsters” – that appear to fly.
The depth camera system sank nearly 4,000 meters into the waters of Gascoigne Marine Park in Western Australia, while the Remote Underwater Video System (DeepBRUVS) reached 1,000 meters.
DeepBruvs was designed by CSIRO’s Tasmanian engineering and technology team and has passed its experimental stage and is now running with updated systems.
The cameras have the ability to capture high definition videos and pictures of the sea floor.
The never-before-seen images will help better support marine research and management.
“We have amazing footage of sea cucumbers springing from the sea floor as if they were flying across the water with amazing color and beautiful focus,” said Dr. John Kessing, CSIRO’s chief scientist.
“You can’t beat being able to see what they looked like in their natural habitat, alive and well at those depths.”
By deploying baits remotely, DeepBRUVS lures species into the lens that would normally avoid other scientific tools like nets.
“It’s a little lighter, more compact and not constrained by having a surface line attached to it,” said CSIRO chief technician Ryan Crossing.
“We’ve found things that have only been recorded before in other countries, and we’ve seen species of lobsters and crabs that we’ve never caught before in any of our sampling equipment,” said Dr. Kessing.
“There are at least three new species of sharks and a large number of marine invertebrates that have never been seen before.”
The underwater video can be played uninterrupted for up to 36 hours in a single deployment, helping scientists understand the behavior of a range of marine species.
“Because we leave the camera on for 24 four hours or more, we capture things like scattering sea urchins, which usually take several hours to converge on the bait and then actually compete for the bait,” said Dr. Kessing.
“We also found a species of sponge that produces extremely long spicules of more than two meters in length, which are the largest ever collected off Western Australia.”
“Deep, dark and really important”
Parks Australia, which operates 60 marine parks covering 39 per cent of Australian waters, will use data collected on RV Investigator to better understand and protect marine life.
“We need to manage these marine parks with research partners so we can understand these places – the more we understand, the better we can manage them,” said Parks Australia head Jason Mundy.
“Every time you take a trip out to one of our big, deep, remote marine parks, you discover new things and species, which is really exciting.”
One example, Mr Mundy said, was when a similar survey showed the long-term impacts of human activities such as fishing in the Tasman Marine Fishing Park off southeast Tasmania.
“It helped illuminate really deep, dark and important places,” he said.