2013 News: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Film of giant squid released. See 2012 item #16 below. Also see Craig McClain's site (click on Giant Squid logo above right) for analysis.
2. Feb.: New deep-sea eelpout species found near New Zealand by my HADES-grant colleagues.
3. Feb.: Researchers currently exploring the deepest-known hydrothermal vents, in the Cayman Trough.
4. Feb.: Wide diversity of life found in ocean's deepest sites in an analysis of videos taken in the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition of 2012.
5. Mar.: Surprising abundance of microbial life reported in ocean's deepest site in an analysis of oxygen consumption in Mariana Trench sediments (study led by Ronnie Glud of the University of Southern Denmark.
6. Mar: Giant squid found to have suprisingly low genetic diversity worldwide , suggesting they can and do readily interbreed anywhere in the oceans.
7. Mar.: James Cameron donates DEEPSEA CHALLENGE sub and other equipment to Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.
8. Mar.: First whalefall found in deep-sea off Antarctica, with 9 new species
9. Mar.: Strange new species of jellyfish spotted off Chile
10. Apr.: Deep hydrothermal-vent life may not be as isolated from surface waters and climate as once thought
11. May: New methane-based ecosystem found off Virginia coast at 1600 m . Researchers found dense fields of mussels with methane-using symbionts.
12. May: New deep-sea fish (plunderfish) found off Antarctica .

2012 News: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Hydrothermal vents discovered near Antarctica with all new species including huge densities of a new species of yeti crab!
2. Jan.: The deepest-known hydrothermal vents, discovered in the Cayman Trough in 2010, are the hottest yet recorded: 450C! Also a new species of vent shrimp and other animals are found here, along with vent in unexpected locations.
3. Feb.: Supergiant amphipod from a deep trench reported. These are about 10 times bigger than their more familiar relatives like beach fleas. The expedition to the Kermadec Trench (10,000m deep) in Nov. 2011 was operated by University of Aberdeen and NIWA New Zealand and included a student (see photo, right) from my lab (Whitman College, noted in Aberdeen news release). This expedition marks the beginning of a new international collaboration to explore trench (hadal) ecosystems: the HADES program.
4. Mar.: New deep-sea habitat called a "hydrothermal seep" reported off Costa Rica: this never-before-seen phenomenon has characteristics of both cold seep and hydrothermal vents, as well as many new species.
5. Mar.: James Cameron exploring deep trenches with a new one-man sub. UPDATE March 25: Cameron reaches the ocean's deepest point, the Challenger Deep of the Mariana Trench. UPDATE Mar. 26: Cameron returns from the depth; little signs of life were seen, but his dive was cut short by a hydraulic leak. See Item 15 below for updates.
6. June: How deep-sea life copes with pressure is the topic of this Science News article (includes research in my lab).
7. June: Vent animals may have hitched a ride on the ALVIN submersible to a new habitat (first reported in May).
8. July: The Mariana Trench flatfish reported at about 11,000m depth in the record-setting 1960 Trieste dive is probably not real: Alan Jamieson and I document evidence that no species of the flatfish family have been found below about 2000m and no other bony fish have been found below about 8500m.
9. Aug.: Limits of microbial life explored at deep ocean vents / volcanoes
10. Aug.: Deep-sea coral found at a record depth on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico.
11. Aug.: Large amphipods of Mariana Trench found to have enzymes for digesting wood. This discovery by Japanese researchers may explain how these animals grow so large in the food-poor depths of this trench.
12. Sept.: Vampire squid's diet--fecal matter, dead plankton and other "marine snow"--revealed for the first time: another link here.
13. Oct.: Europe's deep-water fisheries are being severerly mismanaged--report says. This thorough analysis reveals many stocks are fished well beyond quota levels.
14. Oct.: Deep-sea trawling is destroying seafloor habitat complexity. Another article with picture, from Sept., is HERE.
15. Dec.: 13th Internat'l Deep-Sea Biology Symposium in Wellington NZ, Dec.2-7 was a great success. Among the featured speakers was James Cameron, who spoke on his Mariana-Trench dive. The following day he and his scientists presented the scientific findings of their cruises (including some from my lab) at the Amer. Geophys. Union meeting in San Francisco (video at link bottom).
16. Dec. Live giant squid filmed in its habitat for the first time: footage to be released in Jan. 2013

NEWS CONTINUING FROM PRIOR YEARS

2011 News: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Microbes may have eaten much of the methane from the 2010 Gulf spill: Researchers have found markers of increased bacterial respiration and surprisingly low methane levels in waters affected by the spill, suggesting that the methane was metabolized. Critics note, however, that the methane may have gone somewhere else and we just have not found it yet.
2. Feb.: Microbes not degrading spilled Gulf oil as fast as originally thought. Recent observations show considerable oil still standing on the deep-sea bottom.
3. Mar.: An Antarctic seamount covered in crinoids appears to be a remnant of a Mesozoic community. The discovery is now reaching the media, but was reported in 2010 and on the Echinoblog in Jan. 2011.
4. July: Giant undersea volcanoes found near Antarctica, may have unique species (e.g., on hydrothermal vents). The implications are staggering--these are Mt-Fuji-sized volcanoes we did not even know existed previously!
5. Aug.: Symbiotic microbes in hydrothermal-vent mussels reported to be using hydrogen gas as "food".
6. Aug.: Researchers stream live video from undersea eruption off Oregon.
7. Aug.: Private companies in a race to the Mariana Trench with new manned submersibles.
8. Sept.: "A Plume of Chemicals from Deepwater Horizon" -- Oceanus reports on the scientific detective work that found lingering deep-sea plumes of petroleum chemicals following the Deepwater Horizon oilrig blowout of 2010.
9. Sept.: Scientists call for ban on deep-sea fishing. Fishing fleets have moved into deeper waters as shallow fish stocks have been depleted. However, deep-sea fish--due to low growth and reproductive rates--are far more vulnerable to overfishing. An associated study finds most or all deep-sea fisheries to be unsustainable.
10. Sept.: Same-sex sex documented in a deep-sea squid.
11. Oct.: Giant amoebas (xenophyophores) found in Mariana Trench by Scripps scientists using new high-pressure camera "landers."
12. Nov.: 2nd expedition to study seamounts along the South-West Indian Ocean Ridge announced. These seamounts are vulnerable to deep-sea trawling damage and may include undiscovered species. Scientists on the UK research vessel James Cook will continue a study begun in 2009.
13. Nov.: New "big-lip" acorn worm species found near Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
14. Dec.: Deep-sea Yeti crab's unusual method of feeding documented. Yeti crabs live at vents and have "hairy" arms on which they cultivate a "crop" of bacteria; see the actual article here.
15. Dec.: Startling sonar images of giant undersea volcanoes being destroyed at a deep-sea trench released. Where a line of volcanoes marches into the Kermadec-Tonga trench, there are (mysteriously) fewer large earthquakes.

2010 News: (most recent items at end of list!) Including 2010 Gulf-of-Mexico Oil Spill

1. Feb.: New research supports hydrothermal vents as site of life's origin: researchers present evidence that minerals, gases and various gradients at vents could have catalyzed synthesis of biomolecules
2. Feb.: Vent snails with iron-pyrite armor analyzed: unique vent snails discovered a decade ago have armor on their feet embedded with iron pyrite. A new study reports the armor's unique organic-mineral composition and its possible implications for human armor.
3. Mar.: Possible hydrothermal vents found near Antarctica: using indirect information (such as helium in the water), researchers predict that vents will be found on the Pacific Antarctic ridge. See Jan. 2012 update!
4. Apr.: Hydrothermal vents at record depth found in Cayman Trough: a UK expedition reported vents at 5km depth! Lifeforms there may be different than elsewhere since this vent area is not connected to others in the world. See Jan. 2012 update!
5. Apr.: Deep-sea animals found living without oxygen: Tiny marine animals called Loricifera were found alive at 3.5km depth in an anoxic basin in the Mediterranean by Roberto Danovaro and his team. The species are new to science and may be the only known animals to live long periods with little or no oxygen.
6. May: Giant herring from the deep sea found in Sweden: an 11-ft (3.5 m) "king of herring" or oarfish Regalecus glesne was found dead near shore in Sweden. The oarfish, the world's longest bony fish, lives in the deep sea, and has not been seen in Sweden since 1879.
7. May OIL-SPILL update: Gulf of Mexico oil spill may harm deep-sea life: the oil spewing out from the ruined oil-rig pipe is dispersing to form huge "plumes" at all depths in the water, possibly due to the clean-up dispersant being used, and may cause unseen damage to the deep. Another link is here. [However, not everyone is convinced yet that these plumes are real.] Also, an attempt to cap the leak with a large "funnel" was foiled by frozen gas hydrates plugging it up. For more on gas hydrates, see my SEEPS page.
8. June/OIL SPILL: the NY Times has a feature article on deep-sea life in the Gulf of Mexico and the potential effects of the oil spill thereon.
9. July/OIL SPILL: Oil-eating microbes, such as those found at deep-sea oil seeps, have been found growing rapidly in oil plumes in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Such microbes may help clean up the mess.
10. July: A US-Indonesian team is mapping a newly discovered undersea volcano, 3000m (10,000ft) tall, off of Sulawesi.
11. July: A new species of deep-sea pancake batfish has been found near the destroyed 2010 BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico. These tiny, flattened fish have lures and "walk" along the seafloor with their fins!
12. Aug.: New deep-sea species discovered off Indonesia: using a robotic sub, scientists discovered perhaps 40 new species in this poorly known habitat, including giant sea spiders, carnivorous sponges, and sea lilies.
13. Aug.: New analysis shows that the deep open ocean is by far the least studied marine habitat
14. Sept.: Vent origin for life? The Smithsonian magazine Oct. 2010 has an article about research (at the Carnegie Institution) on ways that life on Earth might have originated at deep-sea hydrothermal vents
15. Oct: New species of trench fish discovered. Biologists of the HADEEP program report a new snailfish species at 7000m in the Peru-Chile trench. In a related story from July 2010, a surprising abundance of snailfish were observed at a baited video in the Japan Trench at 7700m.
16. Oct.: Did electrical energy at hydrothermal vent help life originate?" Researchers in Japan have shown that hydrothermal vents (at least in the lab) can generate electric currents that might trigger synthesis of organic molecules. Another link is here.
17. Nov.: Squidworm, a new species of annelid worm with flambouyant squid-like tentacles, seen at 2800m depth: an expedition i 2007 to the Celebes Sea discovered this worm, Teuthidodrilus samae, and is now releasing the data.
18. Nov.: Submersible dive reveals evidence of Gulf oil spill on the deep-sea floor: An expedition to the site of the BP 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico finds signs of the spill in deep sediments and animals.
19. Dec.: The submersible Alvin, in operation since the 1960s, has finished its final dive and will now be dramatically transformed to enhance its capabilities.
20. Dec.: The Census of Marine Life released its final report on its decade-long activities, including discoveries of many new deep-sea species.

2009 NEWS: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Deep-sea fish species reclassified from 3 families into 1 family of whalefish: 3 species of deep-sea fish, which look very different, have been now found to be closely related. Such a reclassification is a major (and rare) event in taxonomy, and illustrates the difficulty of categorizing life in the deep.
2. Feb.: MBARI researchers film for the first time a barrel-eye fish with a transparent head! This weird-looking fish as two huge eyes focused upwards through a clear dome to look for silhouettes of animals above. [The fish was featured in a hilarious news segment on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central]
3. May-June: New type of hybrid ROV reaches Mariana Trench. The new vehicle is the first submersible to reach the trench since the late 1990s.
4. Aug: Deep-sea worm with bioluminescent "bombs" discovered: a deep-sea pelagic polychaete has been found that throws off packets that light up like a firework or bomb, probably to distract predators while the worm escapes in the dark. Reported in Science Aug. 21 2009 issue p964.
5. Sept: Deep-sea fish sold in restaurants may be endangered: the blue grenadier or hoki of New Zealand, a deep-sea fish related to cod and rattails, has been showcased as a sustainable fishery, but recent declines suggest problems are arising due to demand.
6. Oct: The Oct. 17 2009 issue of New Scientist has an in-depth article on the possible origin of life at hydrothermal vents like the Lost City (see also 2008 news item #1 about the Lost City).
7. Oct.: A submersible survey of deep canyons off California found that fishing gear makes up most of the trash--New Scientist article.
8. Oct.: Microbes of cold seeps have been shown to fix nitrogen as well as use sulfide and methane for energy (reported in Oct. 16, 2009 Science, p377 and 422.
9. Nov 22: The Census of Marine Life released updates on recent discoveries of deep-sea life, including a worm that consumes oil and a swimming sea cucumber.
10. Dec 17: Explosive deep-sea eruption video shown by geologists at annual conference. This video was taken in May in the South Pacific of the deepest active volcano yet discovered. Another, shallower volcano in the Pacific was filmed erupting in April.

2008 NEWS: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Deep-sea vents found to produce oil and gas from inorganic sources: researchers from Woods Hole working at the Lost City vent field in the Atlantic made this breakthrough discovery, showing for the first time oil & gas production can occur independently of life.
2. Jan.: New species of deep-sea eelpouts and snailfish discovered: Dr Nikki King of University of Aberdeen discovered these in trawls of the deep Indian Ocean
3. Feb.: Unidentified new species discovered on the Antarctic seabed: Researchers from Australia, France and Japan explored shallow to deep areas near Antarctica down to 2000m (6500 ft), and found new kinds of fish, tunicates and other invertebrates, and unidentified giant glassy animals growing like a field of flowers. See also link #6 below
4. Feb.: Krill found diving to 3000m or more in Antarctica: long considered to be shallow-water animals, these Antarcti species were observed at abyssal depths feeding.
5. May: "Brittlestar City" discovered on Antarctic Seamount: On the crown of a shallow seamount between New Zealand and Antarctica, researchers discovered millions of brittlestars feeding in a swift current. Normally seamount tops are covered with corals and sponges, but not hear. [Note: this site is only 90m/300ft deep, so not truly in the deep sea.]
6. May: Photo gallery of new deepsea species from Antarctica -- see story #3 above
7. May: Thriving microbes found 1.6km beneath the seafloor in hot (60-100C) sediments in the Atlantic. This is twice the depth at which life has been previously found beneath the seafloor.
8. June: Evidence of explosive volcanic eruption found on Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic: the eruption occurred in 1999. This type of explosive process was thought to be impossible in the deep sea due to high pressure.
9. Aug.: Hottest water on Earth, in supercritical state found, at hydrothermal vent : A team from Jacobs University in Germany found a vent in the Atlantic with water up to 464C. The water is somewhere between a liquid and a gas (a 'supercritical' state) that is very efficient at dissovling minerals beneath the seafloor and carrying them into seawater.
10. Aug.: New type of virus-bacteria interaction found at hydrothermal vents: Eric Wommack found viruses inside vent bacteria that were not causing problems for the host; instead, they might be introducing genes useful in the harsh habitat.
11. Sept.: Deep-sea cusk eel uses special muscles to make communication sounds:
12. Oct.: Deepest-living fish filmed: Japanese and UK researchers have filmed living fishes at 7700m deep! A brotulid fish had previously been caught from below 8000m in the Carribean, but it was dead when retrieved.

2007 NEWS: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Rare deep-sea shark caught on film! The oddly shaped frilled shark, normally found between about 2000 and 3300 feet deep (600 - 1,000 meters), was found near the surface off Japan. It may have come up from the depths due to illness, for it was in poor shape and died shortly after being filmed.
2. Jan.: Hydrothermal vent glows blue! Researchers from JAMSTEC (in Japan) report that a vent in the Okinawa Trough emits a mysterious blue glow (a color previously never reported at a vent).
3. Feb.: Seafloor Methane creates undersea hills, MBARI scientists report from the Arctic
4. Feb.: Deep-sea squid filmed using light to stun its prey. Japanese scientists documented a high-speed attack with flashing lights by a squid (Taningia danae) formerly thought to be a slow swimmer.
5. Feb: New Zealand fishermen catch a COLLOSAL SQUID in Antarctic waters; the Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni weighs about 450kg (990lb) and is the first of this species to be landed intact. Collosal squid are thought be be larger overall than the more famous Giant Squid.
6. Mar.: Expedition sets sail to study strange Atlantic seafloor at 3000m where there appears to be NO CRUST!
7. Mar.: MBARI to deploy deep-sea cable for monitoring deep-sea life and environmental parameters. The cable, to be finished this month, will form a loop around the deep parts of Monterey Canyon.
8. Mar. MBARI researchers report the discovery of a new globular, pelagic deep-sea worm.
9. Mar: Rare deep squid caught off Florida: Only a few specimens of Asperoteuthis acanthoderma have ever been found; this is the first in the Atlantic. It is gelatinous and has glowing lures on its arms.
10. Feb. (out of order): The vibrations of hydrothermal vents may help fish avoid being cooked
11. Apr.: New deep hydrothermal vents discovered: a new species of anchored jelly has been found at deep vents on the East Pacific Rise off Costa Rica. These vent areas are new to science, and suggest that many more species are waiting to be discovered.
12. May: New deep-sea species reported in Antarctic waters and sediment: researchers collected specimens down to about 20,000 ft (6000m) and found carnivorous sponges, hundreds of new species of isopods and worms.
13. June: ROV exploration of a deep-sea canyon yields surpising findings: the Grand-Canyon-sized feature off Portugal has deep coral reefs, sand-dune "deserts" and boulders washed from shore. A shark was spotted at 3600m deep, well below the usual depths of sharks (see 2006 story #5 about the lack of sharks in the abyss).
14. July: Deep-sea reef of glass sponges reported off Washington State coast. The reef is rich with life and may be powered by methane seeps nearby. Some of the sponges look similar to the ones we found in 2001 near methane seeps off California.
15. July: Winged octopod and other "quirky" deep-sea organisms found in canyon off Eastern Canada.
16. Aug.: American icebreaker mapping Arctic sea floor: as the Arctic ice cap melts, there is growing interest (especially in Russia, Denmark and Canada) in exploiting resources such as oil. The U.S. is planning to map the seafloor in detail for scientific reasons, although a Russian spokesperson asserts that the US is also hoping to exploit resources.
17. Aug.: New and strange species discovered on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge: a 5-week expedition conducted as part of the CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE explored the undersea mountains from 800 to 3,500 meters.
18. Oct.: Life explored in Bering Sea canyons ignites conservation debate: deep-sea discoveries in two canyons in the Bering Sea shelf are creating concerns about fisheries impacts on unique species. The Bering Sea shelf is the most heavily fished area on Earth, and trawling in these canyons could destroy deep corals, slow-growing fishe populations, etc.
19. Oct.: New deep-sea species: a black jelly, worm with squidlike tentacles, and swimming sea cucumber--discovered in an isolated deep basin near the Phillipines ( Celebes Sea).
20. Oct.: Numerous new species of archaea and bacteria reported at hydrothermal vents off Oregon.
21. Dec: Biodiversity of dee-sea benthos correlates with ecosystem efficiency: A team led by R. Danovaro (Italy) examined 116 different deep-sea bottom sites, focusing mainly on nematodes, the most widespread animals on earth. They found that the efficiency of recycling of organic matter exponentially increases with diversity of nematode species. Threats to deep-sea biodiversity may impact the entire ocean, which depends on recycling of nutrients from the deep.

2006 NEWS: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: Severe decline in deep-sea trawled species revealed: deep fish including grenadiers are rapidly being depleted by fisheries.
2. Jan.: Large deposit of methane hydrate found 15mi off Los Angeles, in a mud volcano (reported by Hein et al. in the Feb. issue of Geology)
3. Jan.: Male anglerfish reported to be world's smallest vertebrate. The male of Photocorynus spiniceps anglers is only 1/4 inch long. As with other anglerfish, it is a parasite that spends most of its life clamped on the skin of a larger female.
4. Mar.: New species (in a new family) of deep-sea crustacean reported. The animal, named Kiwa hirsuta , looks like a hairy lobster or galatheid crab; it was found at 2300m depth last year south of Easter Island during an expedition led by Robert Vrijenhoek of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
5. Mar: Depth limit of 3000m for sharks documented: using data from extensive surveys, I.G. Priede of the University of Aberdeen and co-workers show that there are no sharks below about 3000m depth. Considering that average ocean depth is about 4000m and goes down to about 11,000m, this discovery shows that most of the volume of the seas is shark-free.
6. May: New species of zooplankton and fish found in the deep Atlantic. A 3-week trawl study was conducted as part of the Census of Marine Life, which aims to catalog marine species before significant changes occur as a result of increasing climate disturbances.
7. Apr.-May: New eruptions appear to be occurring at the 9-North vent site on the East Pacific Rise.
8. Apr. Hydrothermal-vent worms prefer hot water in the laboratory. Paralvinella tubeworms, which live around hydrothermal vents in the Pacific, were kept at high pressure in a lab chamber with a temperature gradient by Girguis and Lee. They found that the worms moved into areas of the aquarium that were as hot as 50C. This is close to the record temperature for a eukaryote. Reported in the Apr. 14 Science.
9. May-June: Scientists observe deep-sea volcano in mid-eruption.
10. July: Deep-sea photo competition: see excellent pictures of deep-sea critters, from the Kongsberg Underwater Image Competition at the 11th Internat'l Deep-Sea Biology meeting in Southampton in July 2006. See also the 13-July-06 issue of Nature p.116
11. Aug.: Microbes found in a carbon-dioxide "lake" under the seafloor off Taiwan, at 1.4 km depth. The existence of these microbes increases our knowledge of habitats where life might be found on other worlds.
12. Nov.: Weird seep creatures surveyed near New Zealand: in a submersible study at 1 km depth, scientists photographed new species at the first cold seep to be studied in the southwestern Pacific.
13. Dec.: Census of Marine Life releases 2006 report on amazing life forms discovered at all ocean depths -- including shrimp once thought to be extinct and a deep-sea single-celled organism visible to the naked eye.
14. Dec.: Giant squid filmed ALIVE: a research team from Japan reported this in early Dec. It is being stated as the first-ever movie of live giant squid, although another Japanese team reported the same thing in Sept. 2005 (see Item #18 under 2005 below)
15. Dec.: Subsurface vent microbes can fix nitrogen at record-high temperatures: nitrogen-fixing microbes are essential to food chains. This study from the University of Washington reveals a vent microbe that can do this at 92C, a record high.

2005 NEWS: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Jan.: An EMAIL HOAX is circulating about deep-sea animals supposedly washed up by the terrible tsunami last month. These animals were actually collected by a deep-sea expedition in 2003 and are featured at the National Oceans Office of Australia.
2. Feb.: New species of deepwater coral reported off S. California. The black coral was discovered by submersible at 90 to 220 m depths, not very deep in terms of deep-sea biology, but deep enought to have been undiscovered until now. Pictures are available at a NMFS/NOAA website.
3. (a) Feb.: Foraminifera discovered in sediments of the Mariana Trench: in the ocean's deepest sediments, these protists appear to be thriving under 1000 atm of pressure. Foraminifera (forams for short) are unicellular; they build shells of CaCO3 although the Marianas species are said to be soft-walled. As eukaryotes, forams are advanced cells with nuclei and other organelles, and thus do NOT represent one of earth's earliest life forms, as erroneously stated in some articles (the earliest life forms were PROKARYOTES--archaea and bacteria). Forams may, however, represent one of the earliest EUKARYOTIC life forms. Foram remains often dominate deep-sea sediments elsewhere, and can be converted into limestone (indeed, the Great Pyramids of Egypt are built out of foram limestone).
   (b) Feb.: Are some so-called COLD SEEPS not actually SEEPS? Geologist Charles Paull at MBARI has found evidence that some "seeps" in the Monterey Canyon of California are not sites of seeping water with sulfides.
4. March: How enteropneust worms make unusual spiral patterns in deepsea mud revealed: Mysterious spiral patterns in the deepsea mud have now been explained by Holland et al. (17 March Nature). More information and pictures from this study are found here.
5. (a) March: Unusual organisms found at the Lost City are described in the 4-March-2005 issue of Science. The Lost City (see news story #7 in year 2001, below) on the MidAtlantic Ridge is a hydrothermal vent area that is quite different from other vent sites, having little sulfide and more hydrogen and methane. Note that the online news story has a significant ERROR: it says that microbes at other vents use carbon dioxide as an energy source. This is false. Carbon dioxide is a carbon source for producers to make sugar. Another source of this article is here.
   5(b) March: Researchers sequence genome of deepsea bacterium in hopes of explaining pressure adaptations: Bartlett and colleagues at Scripps discovered that a deepsea photobacterium may have 2 sets of genes--one for high-pressure and one for lower pressures (Science, Mar. 4 issue).
   
6. May: "Eel City" discovered on new volcano: researchers are exploring a new volcano emerging under the sea near Samoa. They found swarms of eels living in cracks in the rock. It is not known what they eat, and such swarms have never been seen before in the deep sea.
7. May and Feb: Did deep-sea hydrogen sulfide cause the great Permian extinction? Geologists at Penn State present evidence that sudden releases of this toxic gas from the deep sea could have caused massive deaths (Geology, May 2005; Science News 28-May-05, p.339; online news story from Feb. 2005)
8. June: A New Zealand-USA joint expedition is studying undersea volcanoes in the South Pacific, with many startling discoveries.
9. June: How does life in the deep get sufficient food? A new study by Robison and colleagues at MBARI finds that mucus "sinkers" are a major source. Sinkers are sloughed-off mucus nets of larvaceans--midwater animals related to benthic sea squirts. See the article in the June 10, 2005 Science.
10. June: Microbe that uses hydrothermal-vent light to photosynthesize reported: Beatty et al. (in the June 28 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA) have collected and cultivated a green sulfur bacterium from 2500m at vents on the East Pacific Rise. They present evidence that they can capture energy from the faint infrared glow of the vents. (A former student of mine, Tracey Martinson, is a co-author!)
11. July: MBARI researchers report new type of siphonophore that attracts prey with bioluminescence: siphonophores, relatives of the Portuguese Man O' War, normally use bioluminescence for defense only.
12. July: New ecosystem at cold seeps discovered under Antarctic Ice shelf: at 850 m deep, newly discovered cold seeps off Antarctica were found after the Larsen Ice Shelf collapsed in 2002. These are the first seeps studied in near-freezing water. They harbor as-yet-unidentified clams and bacteria.
13. July: Is the giant squid a cannibal? Researchers at the University of Tasmania studying stomach contents of giant squids found fragments of tentacles from other giant squid.
14. July.: Depths of Arctic Ocean teeming with life: An expedition from the Univ. of Alaska has been exploring the depths of the Arctic, finding unexpectedly high abundances of cod, squid, and other animals, and new species of worms, jellies, and other animals.
15. Aug.: "The Life Aquatic" article in the 18-Aug-05 issue of Nature describes the life of deep-sea biologist Cindy Lee Van Dover, one of the leading explorers of hydrothermal vents.
16. Aug.: Northern-most hydrothermal vents discovered in Arctic Ocean: scientists on a Norwegian-led expedition found these vents at 71N latitude, north of Iceland, at 500-700m depth. They may harbor tubeworms, which are currently only known to be in the Pacific.
17. Sept.: Deep-sea sharks are being devastated off NW Europe by fishing fleets. Due to depletion of shallow fish, gill nets are being dropped to 800-1200m now. As the nets are not checked daily, many ensnarled fish die, including slow-breeding sharks. See New Scientist 24-Sept.-2005 p4.
18. Sept.: GIANT SQUID PHOTOGRAPHED LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME! Japanese researchers obtained the photos last year of the Bonin islands at 900m depth; the data have just now been published in the Royal Society Journal.
19. Nov.: New Scientsis 12-Nov-2005 has a special 16-page story on THE DEEP. This includes separate articles on new discoveries, reproduction in the darkness, and "zombie" worms recently discovered on whale carcasses.
20. Dec.: Parental care by a deep-sea squid reported in Nature 15-Dec-05 p929. Seibel et al. observed Gonatus onyx carrying and aerating masses of developing eggs, probably the first report of post-spawning parental care by a squid.

2004 NEWS: (most recent items at end of list!)

1. Feb.: New species of deep-sea jelly discovered in the deep-sea by MBARI researchers (work done in 2003, published in 2004)
2. May: Asphalt in the Deep! Hydrocarbon-seeps of asphalt reported in the deep Gulf of Mexico. Resembling paved roads, these unusual seeps were found near collapsed salt domes, where various tar was apparently squeezed out like lava. Various animals such as tubeworms, clams and mussels were found on or near the asphalt.
3. May: Undersea volcano reported near Antarctica. A young volcanic seamount, rising to within 275m of the surface, has been confirmed on the shelf off N. Antarctica. Its location on a shelf is unusual.
4. May: Scientists explore Marianas Back-Arc spreading center, witnessing an undersea eruption and discovering unique biological communities.
5. July: Mysterious deepsea blobs that occasionally wash ashore turn out to be old whale blubber. See also News Item #13 in 2003
6. July: El Nino affects deep-sea animals even at 2.5 miles (4 km) depth: Drs. H. Ruhl and K. Smith found that sea cucumbers and other deep-sea animals are affected by the food supply of the surface waters which in turn changes drastically during an El Nino event. Reported in the 23 July issue of Science and 24 July issue of Science News.
7. Aug.: A feature article on deep-sea corals appeared in the Aug. 7 issue of Science News
8. Aug.: New animal species from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (including squid, anglerfish) reported from a biodiversity survey this month, conducted as part of the Census of Marine Life.
9. Sept.: Seismic surveys by oil companies may be killing giant squid. Large numbers of dead giant squid off Spain may be related to oil exploration.
10. Oct.: Ancient fungal spores from deep-sea sediments revived in lab. Fungal spore up to 430,000 years old were recovered in core sediments at 6k m deep in the Chagos Trench off India. In the lab, the spores were found to be still viable!
11. Dec.: Giant squid to be plastinated for public display. Artist Von Hagens, known for his sculptures made by preserving human bodies with plastic polymer, will preserve giant squid from New Zealand.

1. Hypothesis of Black-Sea Deluge as Noah's Flood is Challenged. See the original story below on the idea that a massive flood from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea (thousands of years ago) gave rise to the Noah legend. Researchers have been using deep-sea technology to look for evidence deep in the Black Sea. New research contradicts the hypothesis. The question is still open.
2. Jan. 11: Bacteria found deep under the sea floor. S. Giovannoni of Oregon State University and colleagues report tghe discovery of microbes living in fluids in the Earth'c crust 300m below the Juan de Fuca Ridge. They suggest that there is an enormous microbial ecosystem in the crust that is independent of sunlight. See the 11-Jan issue of New Scientist, p.13, or click the link above.
3. Jan. 18: Unexpectedly high activity of hydrothermal venting found in Arctic Ridge. H. Edmonds and colleagues found that the Gakkel Ridge under the ice of the Arctic Ocean has more hydrothermal vents that geologist predicted. As the ocean is isolated, these vents may have undiscovered species of vent animals and microbes. Click the link above, or See Jan. 18 Science News, p.37.
4. Jan.-Feb: Robotic probes explore the oceans. In recent years, several types of robotic vehicles have been designed to explore, measure and map the deep ocean. Two new articles on these give details: Nature v.421 p. 468 (30-Jan-03); and Science News 1-Feb-03 p. 75.
5. Jan. 31: Resources of the deep sea: An article by P. Rona in the 31-Jan-03 Science, p.673, discusses the mineral and petroleum resources of the deep ocean floor. Unique mineral deposits form in the deep from hydrothermal activity.
6. Apr. 02: Collosal squid caught in the Antarctic: An intact but dead Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, the collosal squid known only from 6 specimens, was caught near Antarctica. This species is much larger than the famous Giant Squid! It may grow well over 20m/66ft in length, though no one knows. See also item 17 below.
7. Apr 26: "A Rocky Start" is an article in the Apr. 26 Science News on recent research on the origin of life. In particular, conditions at hydrothermal vents along with iron-sulfide catalysis might have been the key.
8. May 7: New species of huge jelly found in the bathypelagic: off Central California, researchers from MBARI have discoverd "Big Red," a meter-wide jelly with short arms instead of tentacles, which they think lives between 600 and 1500m (bathypelagic). Little else is known.
9. June 7: A record high temperature for life was reported by Kashefi and colleagues at the Amer. Soc. Microbiology meeting in May. They report isolating a archaeon (archaebacterium) from volcanic fluid on the Pacific seafloor; the microbe can grow at 121C and even live at 130C (the previous record was 113C). See the June 7 issue of Science News, p.366.
10. May 31: The earliest life on Earth was probably in hot springs or hydrothermal vents, according to a new genetic analysis showing the relatedness of all major life groups correlated by thermal tolerance. The analysis yields an evolutionary tree that shows the earliest life forms were adapted to very high temperatures. See New Scientist May 31 2003, p.20, or click the link.
11. June 14: The Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench has now been found to be the result of one tectonic plate being forced under another plate in a way that is causing the first plate to be torn in two. This creates the great depth of this trench. See New Scientist June 14, 2003, p.16.
12. June 26: More information was released on the odd Gakkel Ridge, the spreading center hidden under the Arctic icecap. This ridge is deeper and slower-spreading than other ridge areas, and has unexpectedly high hydrothermal activity. See Nature 26-June 2003, p.932.
13. July 2: Mysterious deep-sea blob washes ashore in Chile. It might be a rare 40-foot (12-meter) giant octopus from 3000m, or something more mundane such as a piece of whale skin, or a conglomeration of plankton. See news item #12 under "2002 NEWS" below for a real deep-sea octopus. UPDATEs DEC. 2003/July 2004: Researchers use molecular analysis to discover that the blob is skin from a sperm whale!
14. July 26: Hydrothermal Mineral formations at the Lost City on the MidAtlantic Ridge may be at least 30,000 years old. See Science News July 26, p. 52. See 2005 news for an update! Meanwhile, an expedition explored the methane seeps of the Blake Ridge off the SE USA.
15. July 26-Aug. 10: Iron-eating microbes on the Titanic are described in an article in New Scientist, July 26, p. 36..
16. July 31: Larve of hydrothermal vent animals may spread to other vents from their parents by following currents within a rift valley. Thomson et al. report in Nature v424 p545 (July 31) on these vent-induced currents that stay within the valley of the Endeavor Ridge off Washington State.
17. Aug. 2: The giant and collosal squids are discussed in an article in New Scientist 2-Aug-03, p. 24. See item 6 above also.
18. Aug. 21: A deep-sea sponge's skeleton is a fiber-optic device as good as or better than human-made cables...click the link, or see Nature Aug. 21 issue.
19. Aug. 22: Seamounts (undersea mountains) off Cape Cod were explored in July, and a news story appeared in the Aug. 22 issue of Science. Seamounts, of which there may be 30,000 in the sea, are largely unexplored, and so far have been fouhnd to have many animals species previously unknown. Click the blue link for information on the internet.
20. Sept. 3: A deep-sea nursery for blob sculpin and an octopus were discovered by MBARI scientists using an ROV on a ridge off N. California. Large numbers of the fish and octopod were found brooding their eggs on the ridge, a behavior not before documented.
21. Sept. 9 and Aug. 15: Record high temperature found for life discovered: 130C (266F) for a vent microbe (Aug. 15). The discovery was by Dr. D. Lovley and colleagues (Science, Aug. 15 issue), who later reported that these microbes use IRON as an energy source and produce MAGNETITE as a result. Magnetite is the naturally magnetic mineral that humans first used to make compasses.
22. Oct. 23: The Census of Marine Life is a decade-long project (involving 53 coutries) that hopes to catalogue as many marine species as possible. New species are being found routinely, including new species of deep-sea fish. See also this CBS News Story.
23. Nov. 6: Jellies are turning out to have a far greater role in ocean ecosystems than previously suspected, especially in the deep sea.The 6-Nov-03 issue of Nature (vol. 426, pp12-14) has a news feature on "Close encounters of the jelly kind" describing the latest research with submersibles, etc. An example of a newly discovered deep-sea jelly can be found in this Zootaxa article.
24. Nov. 7: Hot-vent gastropod has iron-sulfide armor! Waren et al. report in the 7-Nov-03 Science (p. 1007) that a snail from Indian-Ocean hydrothermal vents has unique plates of iron-sulfide crystals covering its foot.
25. Dec. 17: WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanogr. Inst) announced plans to build a "hybrid" ROV to dive to the greatest ocean depths. The Japanese ROV KAIKO had been the only vehicle that could dive to the deepest depths, visiting the Marianas Trench in 1995. Unfortunately, it was lost at sea in Sept. 2003.