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"Deep diving History."
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In oceans deep : courage, innovation, and adventure beneath the waves
In an age of unprecedented exploration and innovation, our oceans remain largely unknown, and endlessly fascinating. Streever celebrates the daring pioneers who tested the limits of what the human body can endure under water as he traces both the little-known history and exciting future of how we travel and study the depths. He covers seventeenth-century leather-hulled submarines, their nuclear-powered descendants, and robots capable of roving unsupervised between continents. Discover all the adventures our seas have to offer-- and why they are in such dire need of conservation. -- adapted from jacket
Book
Dive Scapa Flow
'Dive Scapa Flow' has been THE definitive guide to diving the fabled wrecks of Scapa Flow, one of the world's greatest wreck diving locations. This completely re-written and updated centenary edition is produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the scuttle of the 74 warships of the interned German High Seas Fleet at Scapa Flow on 21st June 1919 - the greatest act of maritime suicide the world has ever seen.
eBook
Ecological insights from environmental disturbances in mesophotic coral ecosystems
Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) have historically been considered more stable than shallow reefs and thus suggested to provide refuge to coral reef communities against natural and anthropogenic impacts. Despite this assumption, a growing body of literature has shown that deep reefs are not immune to natural disturbance. Here, based on our in situ observations, we propose that disturbance may actually represent an important mechanism for maintaining biodiversity in MCEs, as is the case for shallow reefs. Our observations suggest that disturbances can provide microhabitat and space necessary for the recruitment and occurrence of different species, increasing overall diversity. Since bioerosion rates are lower at depth, and most well‐developed coral reefs on MCEs are formed by dense aggregations of a single or a few species, intermediate levels of disturbance could represent a critical driver of community structure balancing. Therefore, instead of long‐term stability, intermediate disturbances should be expected on MCEs. However, high frequency and intensity of natural disturbances, or their association with anthropogenic stressors, might have stronger negative impacts on MCEs than on shallower reefs due to slower coral growth and calcification rates.
Journal Article
Aerial Photo-Identification of Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus)
Photo-identification is a staple tool used in cetacean conservation studies since the 1970s to monitor individuals on a regional and ocean basin-wide scale to infer critical information about habitat use, suitability, and shifts. This technique has been extensively used on sperm whales globally since it was developed in 1982, initially using the tail fluke from deep diving whales and the dorsal fin when appropriate. From the mid 2010s onwards, the emergence of domestically available unoccupied aerial systems (drones) has reshaped how whale research can be conducted. Herein, we describe the suitability of aerial images to determine the identity of individual sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) using all available identifiable markings along their dorsal side to complement the use of fluke notches and dorsal fin scars photographed from the surface of the sea from boat-based platforms for photo-identification and to maximize opportunities to identify and monitor sperm whales. Drone data were gathered while flying over sperm whales in Andenes, Norway; Shetland, Scotland; Dursey Island, Ireland; and Faial and São Miguel Islands, Azores, Portugal, between 2017 and 2024, which enabled the entire dorsal surface of sperm whales to be captured and assessed. Aerial photographs and videos were used to differentiate between 336 individual sperm whales using physical characteristics. We identified the main features of sperm whales through aerial drone images, as well as their prevalence in Atlantic high latitude foraging grounds and lower latitude nursery grounds. We discuss the advantages of using aerial drone photographs to identify sperm whales in addition to traditional boat-based photo-identification.
Journal Article
Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina Linn.) depredate toothfish longlines in the midnight zone
Humans have devised fishing technologies that compete with marine predators for fish resources world-wide. One such fishery for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) has developed interactions with a range of predators, some of which are marine mammals capable of diving to extreme depths for extended periods. A deep-sea camera system deployed within a toothfish fishery operating in the Southern Ocean acquired the first-ever video footage of an extreme-diver, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), depredating catch from longlines set at depths in excess of 1000m. The interactions recorded were non-lethal, however independent fisheries observer reports confirm elephant seal-longline interactions can be lethal. The seals behaviour of depredating catch at depth during the line soak-period differs to other surface-breathing species and thus presents a unique challenge to mitigate their by-catch. Deployments of deep-sea cameras on exploratory fishing gear prior to licencing and permit approvals would gather valuable information regarding the nature of interactions between deep diving/dwelling marine species and longline fisheries operating at bathypelagic depths. Furthermore, the positive identification by sex and age class of species interacting with commercial fisheries would assist in formulating management plans and mitigation strategies founded on species-specific life-history strategies.
Journal Article
Opening the Great Depths
Opening the Great Depths is the story of the Trieste, its officers and sailors, and the civilians, often told in their own words, documenting for the first time the earliest years of humanity's probing into Earth's final frontier.
eBook
Extensive use of mesopelagic waters by a Scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) in the Red Sea
Background
Despite being frequently landed in fish markets along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast, information regarding fundamental biology of the Scalloped hammerhead shark (
Sphyrna lewini
) in this region is scarce. Satellite telemetry studies can generate important data on life history, describe critical habitats, and ultimately redefine management strategies for sharks. To better understand the horizontal and vertical habitat use of
S. lewini
in the Red Sea and to aid with potential future development of zoning and management plans for key habitats, we deployed a pop-up satellite archival transmitting tag to track a single female specimen (240 cm total length) for a tracking period of 182 days.
Results
The tag was physically recovered after a deployment period of 6 months, thus providing the complete archived dataset of more than one million depth and temperature records. Based on a reconstructed, most probable track, the shark travelled a circular distance of approximately 1000 km from the central Saudi Arabian Red Sea southeastward into Sudanese waters, returning to the tagging location toward the end of the tracking period. Mesopelagic excursions to depths between 650 and 971 m occurred on 174 of the 182 days of the tracking period. Intervals between such excursions were characterized by constant oscillatory diving in the upper 100 m of the water column.
Conclusions
This study provides evidence that mesopelagic habitats might be more commonly used by
S. lewini
than previously suggested. We identified deep diving behavior throughout the 24-h cycle over the entire 6-month tracking period. In addition to expected nightly vertical habitat use, the shark exhibited frequent mesopelagic excursions during daytime. Deep diving throughout the diel cycle has not been reported before and, while dive functionality remains unconfirmed, our study suggests that mesopelagic excursions may represent foraging events within and below deep scattering layers. Additional research aimed at resolving potential ecological, physiological and behavioral mechanisms underpinning vertical movement patterns of
S. lewini
will help to determine if the single individual reported here is representative of
S. lewini
populations in the Red Sea.
Journal Article
Observation of a Gelatinous Octopod, Haliphron atlanticus, along the Southern West Mariana Ridge: A Unique Cephalopod of Continental Slope and Mesopelagic Communities
The circumglobal deep-sea gelatinous giant octopod, Haliphron atlanticus, reaches 4 m in length and uses both benthic and pelagic habitats in the upper 3000 m of the ocean during different life history stages, but it is rarely observed due to the deep-depths where it typically lives. It has been collected in trawls and observed a few times near continental margins or islands and has been identified in the stomach contents of deep-diving predators such as sperm whales and blue sharks or detected as body fragments after predation events. An individual H. atlanticus (~1 m in total length) was video-recorded at 12:21 for about 3 minutes in front of the Shinkai 6500 submersible at 586–599 m (6.5°C, salinity 34.4) along the West Mariana Ridge. It made no escape attempt as the submersible approached and it moved slowly up or down in front of the submersible. It was over the outer seamount-slope (bottom depth ~3208 m) ~50 km west of seamounts (≥1529 m summits), but how it fits into the mesopelagic food web along the ridge is unclear. More information is needed to understand the role of H. atlanticus in oceanic food webs and if it typically lives along seamount ridges.
Journal Article
Population regulation in semelparous deep-sea squid is driven by ecological conditions in surface waters and whale predation at depth
Predator-prey interactions present a powerful framework for understanding population regulation in natural systems, including the vast and understudied pelagic deep sea. Oceanic squid are among the most abundant and important species groups in this habitat and function as primary prey for the largest marine top predators, deep-diving cetaceans. At the same time, these cryptic animals are highly data deficient. Insight into the dynamics of deep-sea squid populations and the impacts of predation by top-predators is crucial for designing conservation strategies and developing a general theory of deep-sea ecology. Here, we offer fundamental new insights into how individual life history and predation interact to shape population regulation in deep-sea squid. Using empirical data, we develop a size-structured population model for a highly abundant histioteuthid deep-sea squid. We show that population regulation is driven primarily by conditions experienced as paralarvae in the upper water column, where they face intense resource competition. Relaxation of this competition following ontogenetic migration as juveniles drives exponential-like growth curves. Population dynamics exhibit single-cohort cycles, producing regular seasonal patterns in reproduction, even in the absence of any environmental seasonality. Furthermore, we demonstrate that predation by deep-diving cetaceans at different depths can lead to emergent facilitation between top predators. This reveals the complex interdependencies in trophic networks connecting the deep sea with surface waters. Our findings provide critical insights into the ecological functioning of the pelagic deep-sea and their link with surface waters. These insights are urgently needed to better understand and conserve this vast, data-deficient habitat, which endangered deep-diving predators depend on but is under major stress from anthropogenic activities.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
Paper
Fathoming the ocean : the discovery and exploration of the deep sea
By the middle of the nineteenth century, as scientists explored the frontiers of polar regions and the atmosphere, the ocean remained silent and inaccessible. The history of how this changed—of how the depths became a scientific passion and a cultural obsession, an engineering challenge and a political attraction—is the story that unfolds in Fathoming the Ocean. In a history at once scientific and cultural, Helen Rozwadowski shows us how the Western imagination awoke to the ocean's possibilities—in maritime novels, in the popular hobby of marine biology, in the youthful sport of yachting, and in the laying of a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. The ocean emerged as important new territory, and scientific interests intersected with those of merchant-industrialists and politicians. Rozwadowski documents the popular crazes that coincided with these interests—from children's sailor suits to the home aquarium and the surge in ocean travel. She describes how, beginning in the 1860s, oceanography moved from yachts onto the decks of oceangoing vessels, and landlubber naturalists found themselves navigating the routines of a working ship's physical and social structures. Fathoming the Ocean offers a rare and engaging look into our fascination with the deep sea and into the origins of oceanography—origins still visible in a science that focuses the efforts of physicists, chemists, geologists, biologists, and engineers on the common enterprise of understanding a vast, three-dimensional, alien space.
eBook