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January 20, 2021: Octopus

This octopus was seen crawling over a bed of chemosynthetic mussels during a dive at Blake Ridge Seep as part of the DEEP SEARCH 2019: DEEP Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats expedition. Blake Ridge is a relatively well-studied seep habitat and is unique from most U.S. Atlantic continental margin seep environments in that it is home to well-established chemosynthetic mussel communities. These mussels contain symbiotic bacteria that are able to process the methane seeping out of the seafloor and provide it in the form of energy, or food, to the mussels themselves. A number of DEEP SEARCH scientists are interested in studying these mussels for population genetics, food web analysis, reproduction, and physiology.

Image courtesy of Ivan Hurzeler and DEEP SEARCH 2019 - BOEM, USGS, NOAA, ROV Jason, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Download larger version (jpg, 5.1 MB).

This octopus was seen crawling over a bed of chemosynthetic mussels during a dive at Blake Ridge Seep as part of the DEEP SEARCH 2019: DEEP Sea Exploration to Advance Research on Coral/Canyon/Cold seep Habitats expedition. Blake Ridge is a relatively well-studied seep habitat and is unique from most U.S. Atlantic continental margin seep environments in that it is home to well-established chemosynthetic mussel communities. These mussels contain symbiotic bacteria that are able to process the methane seeping out of the seafloor and provide it in the form of energy, or food, to the mussels themselves. A number of DEEP SEARCH scientists are interested in studying these mussels for population genetics, food web analysis, reproduction, and physiology.

From: The Race to the Finish.