oceana ranger
Photo of the Week: Colorful Octopus
The Oceana Ranger has now been at sea for several weeks, and as usual, the crew has been sending us some incredible photos. Starting this week, I’ll be posting a photo of the week from the journey.
This week’s photo of a beautiful octopus comes from a dive the team did off Portugal’s beautiful Algarve region, in Pedra de Martinhal. As the photographer noted, this curious octopus wasn’t scared off by the camera, perhaps because it was mesmerized by its reflection in the glass.
Stay tuned for more great photos in the coming weeks, and check out the Ranger set on Flickr.
Oceana Identifies Carnivorous Sponge in the Mediterranean
Exciting news from across the pond: Oceana scientists, along with scientists from German and Italian universities, have identified carnivorous sponges in the deep waters of the Mediterranean in Spain and Italy.
Although the species, Asbestopluma hypogea, was first discovered in the 1990s, very little was known about it until recently. Oceana’s research vessel, Ranger, made crucial discoveries about the sponge’s habitat using an underwater robot (ROV) during its 2007 and 2010 expeditions.
Asbestopluma hypogea is no ordinary sea sponge. Most sea sponges obtain nutrients by filtering tiny food particles out of the surrounding water as it flows past the sponge – but not Asbestopluma hypogea. This tiny carnivorous sea sponge has adapted to life in areas where food is scarce. They capture small crustaceans using filaments covered with hook-like spicules, taking more than 10 days to finish each meal. And that’s despite having no digestive tract, limited mobility and being very tiny (between 1 and 1.5 centimeters). How cool is that?
