About 2,400 meters (a mile and a half) below the surface of Monterey Bay, this “sea lily” clings to the wall of Monterey Canyon. Marine biologists call this animal a “stalked crinoid.” Crinoids are relatives of sea stars and sea urchins that live by capturing tiny food particles that drift by on ocean currents. The stalk on this crinoid keeps it up above the muddy seafloor, where the currents are slightly stronger. Like many sea stars, this stalked crinoid has five-fold symmetry, and a mouth located at the center of its feathery arms.

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are robot submarines that are programmed at the surface, then released to follow a specific path underwater, collecting data as they go. MBARI’s scientists use AUVs to study ocean currents, detect blooms of marine algae, and map the seafloor. This photograph shows a bright yellow AUV approaching part of a prototype docking station in the MBARI test tank.

MBARI staff, scientists, and engineers will share their knowledge and enthusiasm about oceanographic research at our annual Open House this Saturday, July 21, 2012 from noon to 5 p.m. in Moss Landing, California. Highlights include science exhibits, technology demonstrations, deep-sea videos, presentations, robotic submersibles, and children’s activities. This free event is fun for the whole family! For more information, visit www.mbari.org/about/openhouse.html 

Lithodid crabs, small red shrimp (Pandalopsis sp.), bubblegum coral (Paragorgia arborea), yellow sponge (Staurocalyptus sp.), and a white branching finger sponge (Asbestopluma sp.).

In July 2012, MBARI engineers deployed the power buoy designed to harness the power of the ocean waves. The buoy is 2.5 meters (8 feet) across and a massive metal plate is hanging in the water below the buoy. While the buoy rises and falls with the waves, the plate, 30 meters (100 feet) down, remains relatively stationary. Between them is a large hydraulic cylinder with a piston inside. As the buoy rises and falls, it pushes and pulls on this piston. This forces hydraulic fluid through a hydraulic motor, which in turn runs an electrical generator. Read more about it on our website.

Monterey Canyon is one of the deepest submarine canyons on the west coast of the United States. The canyon head lies just offshore of Moss Landing on the Central California coast. From there the main channel meanders over 400 kilometers seaward to a depth of more than 4,000 meters on the abyssal plain. Repeated mapping in certain areas of the canyon have shown that the terrain changes substantially every few months due to large sediment-transport events involving both debris flows and turbidity currents. If the water drained from Monterey Bay, the newly revealed terrain would be stunning, with cliffs, gorges, valleys, and spires matching the scenery found in some of our most beautiful national parks. Learn more about the canyon’s stunning topography and marine life at http://goo.gl/EgkN7 

Siphonophores like Apolemia are deep-sea predators—lying in wait for unfortunate animals to blunder into their curtain of stinging cells. Their diet can include tiny crustaceans such as copepods, fish, and even other siphonophores. Although many siphonophores eat whatever they can catch, others are specialists. Some use lures to attract specific prey. Others deploy their tentacles in elaborate feeding shapes such as coils.

This photograph shows the manipulator arm on one of MBARI’s remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) holding what looks like a chocolate brownie with a strange, spiky frosting. This is actually a chunk of basalt, a common type of volcanic rock, which MBARI geologists collected from the Endeavor segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge, 7,300 feet below the ocean surface and 180 miles off the coast of Washington state. This rock may have been part of a hardened lava crust on a pool of molten lava created by an underwater volcanic eruption. At some point the molten lava drained out of the pool, leaving the hardened crust behind. The lava spikes on this rock probably formed on the underside of the crust (pointing downward), as the last remnants of the molten lava dripped down from the ceiling of the pool and solidified in the near freezing water of the deep sea. 

Growing up to two meters (six feet) long, Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas) are formidable predators that hunt krill and a variety of fishes. Their normal habitat is within the tropical and subtropical waters of the East Pacific.