NOAA Ocean Exploration’s Deep-Sea Valentines
NOAA Ocean Exploration’s team features expert scientists, technicians, communicators, and more. For this Valentine’s Day, though, we challenged our staff and their families to try something new to many of them: deep-sea art! Take a look at their work below and learn about why each animal was chosen as someone’s deep-sea valentine. You can join in too: Just tag NOAA Ocean Exploration in your deep-sea artwork on social media!
Sea Spider (Pycnogonidae)
by Brandon Gertz
Pen and colored pencil
Sea spiders aren’t even closely related to land spiders, but that didn’t stop them from becoming about 99% leg. Inspiring!
Sea Toad (Chaunacops coloratus)
by Logan Kline
Acrylic paint
Look at him. He’s ridiculous and adorable and perfectly evolved to be a deep-sea fish with those modified fins!
Dumbo/Flapjack Octopus (multiple genera)
Anonymous
Acrylic paint pens
They just look like friends.
Tubeworms (Riftia pachyptila)
by Elizabeth Diamond
Graphite and colored pencils
Riftia evolved a unique metabolism in the absence of sunlight in the deep ocean. It relies instead on the actions of symbiotic, chemosynthetic bacteria within a specialized organ called a trophosome. The adult worms lack a digestive system entirely!
Squid (Bathyteuthis sp.)
by Jessica Gwinn
Pen and colored pencils
Bathyteuthis squid are awesome, pelagic critters commonly found between occupying midwater depths from 600-2,000 meters (2,000-6,600 feet). I love their big “puppy dog” eyes adapted for life in low light, their delicate little tentacles, and their flappy fins that look like tiny wings — perfectly suited for gently drifting through the deep sea!
Crinoid (Crinoidea)
by Christa Rabenold
Colored pencils
It’s hard to choose a favorite deep-sea animal, but an animal that looks like a plant, comes in an array of colors, and has feather-like arms that sway in the current, is hard not to love. Their resilience alone — crinoids like this feather star have been around for more than 400 million years — makes them worthy of great respect.
Giant Isopod (Bathynomus sp.)
Anonymous
Pencil and colored pencils
The isopod is a lonely creature living in the deep cold ocean. It’s only fair to remember it with a little love on Valentine’s Day.
Mating Seahorses (Hippocampus sp.)
by Joyce Addy
Colored pencils and markers
These two change colors to communicate emotions and stay in a slow, seductive dance until mating is over. The dance starts with rubbing of the noses.
Jellyfish (Trachymedusae)
by Natasha McCracken
Digital art software
Jellyfish are basically living art. There’s something so surreal and ‘outer space’ about the way they look, but their movement is incredibly hypnotic and serene.
Rhinochimaera (Harriotta sp.)
by Michelle Whitman
Watercolor and acrylic paints
With its glowing ghost-like elegance and long upturned snout, there’s something ethereal and whimsical about the Rhinochimaera.
Bamboo Coral (Iridogorgia sp.)
by Heather Coleman
Crayon
Iridogorgia’s spirals are gorgeous.
Giant Tubeworms (Riftia pachyptila)
by Alana Dornback
Crayon
I love the pretty colors of deep-sea tubeworms!