The 240 dives used to perform this survey were all research trips he had conducted personally since arriving in 1999 at the institute. Sailing out from Moss Landing, the cruises ranged up to 180 miles offshore and covered an area roughly the size of Ireland.
The sea floor of Monterey Bay, 60 miles south of San Francisco, drops off sharply, unlike the shallow continental shelves on most coasts. That makes it easy for research vessels to quickly reach and access deep environments.
For years, Dr. Haddock and his colleagues lowered robots on long tethers to explore the icy darkness. Sensitive cameras on the vehicles let the scientists conduct wide visual hunts. In all, the researchers made more than 350, 000 sighting of deep-sea life.
Their finds included anglerfish, a famous example of bioluminescence. These skilled hunters lure prey by dangling lines tipped with glowing lures in front of large mouths full of daggerlike teeth.
A rare sighting was Vampyroteuthis infernails － Latin for “vampire squid from hell.” The odd creature has blue eyes, a dark red body and cloaklike webbing over its arms. The tips glow.
Dr. Haddock and his colleagues have discovered that the squids also emit luminous blue particles that can form a glowing cloud around the animal, apparently to distract predators so the squid can vanish into darkness. many of the dives found swarms of gelatinous animals known as siphonophores.
The otherworldly creatures have long bodies ringed by pulsing bells for propulsion, and up to thousands of elastic tentacles for catching and drawing prey.
Most siphonophores light up brightly. Scientists judge their startling brilliance to be a way to scare off predators. Dr. Haddock and his colleagues uncovered another reason while studying a creature known as Erenna.
The ends of its tentacles turned out to bear twitching red lights, apparently for drawing prey into waiting stingers and its stomach. “It opened my eyes,” Dr. Haddock said.
On land, Dr. Martini took the lead in compiling the numbers, comparing the sea creatures seen during the dives with a list of animals known to be luminescent.
This comprehensive list was based on a review of previous scientific reports, as well as the firsthand observations that Dr. Haddock and other scientists have made over the years.
In the conclusion to their study, the scientists at the institute acknowledged that all their expeditions and efforts at summarization have produced no more than a rough estimate of the phenomenon’s true dimensions.
“The full extent of bioluminescence capability is yet to be established, especially in the deep sea where continued discoveries await,” Dr. Martini and Dr. Haddock said in their report.
For decades, the human eye worked far better than any video camera at recording the subtle lights of the deep life. But in recent years, Dr. Haddock said, camera sensitivity has begun to rival that of the human eye and will eventually surpass it.
He said the advances would let scientists document lights previously seen only fleetingly, as well as discover new kinds of luminous displays. Continued progress, he added, will be a living memorial to Dr. Beebe and the hidden world he discovered glows, flares and shimmers in the sunless depths.
“We're still addressing the kinds of observations he was making,” Dr. Haddock said. “There’s still a lot to learn.”
Dr. Haddock and his colleagues have discovered that the squids also emit luminous blue particles that can form a glowing cloud around the animal, apparently to distract predators so the squid can vanish into darkness. many of the dives found swarms of gelatinous animals known as siphonophores.
The otherworldly creatures have long bodies ringed by pulsing bells for propulsion, and up to thousands of elastic tentacles for catching and drawing prey.
Most siphonophores light up brightly. Scientists judge their startling brilliance to be a way to scare off predators. Dr. Haddock and his colleagues uncovered another reason while studying a creature known as Erenna.
The ends of its tentacles turned out to bear twitching red lights, apparently for drawing prey into waiting stingers and its stomach. “It opened my eyes,” Dr. Haddock said.
On land, Dr. Martini took the lead in compiling the numbers, comparing the sea creatures seen during the dives with a list of animals known to be luminescent.
This comprehensive list was based on a review of previous scientific reports, as well as the firsthand observations that Dr. Haddock and other scientists have made over the years.
In the conclusion to their study, the scientists at the institute acknowledged that all their expeditions and efforts at summarization have produced no more than a rough estimate of the phenomenon’s true dimensions.
“The full extent of bioluminescence capability is yet to be established, especially in the deep sea where continued discoveries await,” Dr. Martini and Dr. Haddock said in their report.
For decades, the human eye worked far better than any video camera at recording the subtle lights of the deep life. But in recent years, Dr. Haddock said, camera sensitivity has begun to rival that of the human eye and will eventually surpass it.
He said the advances would let scientists document lights previously seen only fleetingly, as well as discover new kinds of luminous displays. Continued progress, he added, will be a living memorial to Dr. Beebe and the hidden world he discovered glows, flares and shimmers in the sunless depths.
“We're still addressing the kinds of observations he was making,” Dr. Haddock said. “There’s still a lot to learn.”
