Deep Trawl Underwater Camera
Posted on Aug 30, 2008 under 5 | 9 Comments
The underwater sea floor seen here is very different from those we’ve seen heretofore. It is continuously covered with thriving living organisms. The fauna are dominated by branched “corals” about twenty cm tall, rather colorful and decorated with numerous lighter-colored brittlestars. Several species of white foliate (flattened in a leaf shape) sponges and other, yellower ones are scattered over the living tapestry.
We can see corridors that are bare of organisms. These areas seem to have been scraped by rocks or ice, but the hypothesis of a passing iceberg at such a depth is discarded. Thus it could be a case of a landslide of big rocky chunks that would have tumbled down the continental talus.
The rare vertebrates seen are Notothenioids and, for the first time in the mission, macrouroids, also known as grenadiers!
Duration : 0:1:8
I just bought this SeaLife underwater camera that also has video capability. Figured it wouldnt take good video, but it did pretty good for a little underwater camera.