June 5, 2021: Jellyfish
Image courtesy of NOAA Ocean Exploration, Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts. Download larger version (jpg, 1.0 MB).
Scientists have little information on what lives in the midwater around the Pacific Ocean’s Musician Seamounts. During a series of water column exploration dives as part of the Deep-Sea Symphony: Exploring the Musicians Seamounts expedition, scientists found several new species and extended the known range of many others. By applying their biological knowledge of these organisms, they got glimpses of how the midwater food web works and how the environment affects life in this part of the ocean. Their plan: characterize the volume explored, document everything as precisely as possible, and then analyze the results.
This image shows Halicreas minimum, the warty clubfoot jellyfish, with an amphipod along for the ride. While on its ride, the amphipod may eat the tentacles of the jelly.
From: Explorations Far Above the Musician Seamounts: A Crescendo for Midwater Explorers.