Biology

Author: LadyofHats Mariana Ruiz

With tentacles extended in all directions, the Rhopalonematid jelly Crossota millsae is caught in a very interesting natural pose by the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Deep Discoverer’s cameras in waters south of La Parguera on the southwestern shore of Puerto Rico at a depth of 1,015 meters (3,330 feet). Moving just above the seafloor, ROV Deep Discoverer came across this jellyfish hovering with its tentacles extending outward in all directions. Looking into known accounts of jellyfish similar to this one, it appears the jellyfish shown is a male individual of Crossota millsae, a jellyfish in the Family Rhopalonematidae.

This is not the first time we have encountered a specimen like this – other species in this family of jellies have been caught by our ROV’s cameras. Certainly psychedelic, the video shows a jelly in a very interesting pose, suggesting this jellyfish may feed by hovering above the seafloor with stinging cell-loaded tentacles extended and waiting for prey. In other dives, these poses were followed by rapid swimming.

Known from the Atlantic as well as the Pacific, jellies similar to these have been found not too far from the seafloor, suggesting a linkage between the benthos and the water column. Recording seemingly natural behaviors and stances by deep-ocean life in high-definition has given us the ability to not only identify these organisms, but learn a little about how they live.

Author: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Wide landscape shot shows thousands of downy gray seabird chicks on simple ground nests, nothing more than small clearings in the green groundcover, with white-chested adults mixed in and trees in the distant background.

Laysan albatross have the best built-in navigation. These incredible seabirds, called mōlī in Hawaiian, fly many thousands of miles across the northern Pacific Ocean, from Alaska to Japan and even Mexico. And when it’s time to nest again, most of them find the tiny Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, locating their precise nesting site from prior years, down to a few feet.

According to the annual survey completed in January, nearly 618,000 active nests were counted on the refuge’s 2.4 square miles of land, with the vast majority being mōlī nests. Midway Atoll NWR is the world’s largest albatross colony.

Once a mōlī pair’s solitary egg is hatched, the unique call of their fledgling can also help the parents find their chick.

As chicks get stronger they will have more independent time and stray further from the nest before eventually fledging in the summer.

By late August, all of the albatross will have fledged and departed for sea. The young mōlī will spend three to five years at sea before returning to their nesting colony to find a forever mate.

Author: Dan Rapp/USFWS Pacific

Author: ROV operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Author: Paul Danese

CC BY-SA 4.0

This animation starts with a whole human and zooms in through the organs and tissues to the cells and finally the DNA. You can see how all these different levels of organisation fit together, and the relative scale of each level.

Author: yourgenome