And you thought you were dumbo!Rare marine species, including the 'dumbo', found deep undersea A GLOBAL census of marine life Census of Marine Life, an international program to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of living organisms in the oceans. A 10-year project involving scientists in more than 70 nations, the census began in 2001 and is directed by an is enabling scientists discover new species and biodiversity in deep sea areas -- down 5,000 metres or so -- that have never known sunlight. The number of such species that survive without sunlight is now close to 17,000 and includes a variety of crabs, shrimps and worms. Pending the release of the full census report in October 2010, some details of the project were released on Sunday. The deep sea animals are found in ocean areas such as continental margins to the spine- like ridge running down the mid- Atlantic, submerged mountains rising from the seafloor, muddy floor of ocean plains and the vents, seeps and chemically- driven ecosystems found on the margins of mid- ocean ridges and in the deepest ocean trenches The following is a list of the deepest parts of the Earth's oceans and seas. (All figures are measured from sea level) Name Depth (metres) Depth (feet) Depth (miles) 1 Mariana Trench 10,916 35,814 6.78 2 Tonga Trench 10,882 35,702 905 3 Mindanao Deep 10,850 35,597 6. . Scientists reach them through deep- towed cameras, sonar and other technologies. Scientists from 34 countries, including India, are involved in the project. Most of the deep sea species have adapted to diets based on meagre mea·ger also mea·gre adj. 1. Deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty. 2. Deficient in richness, fertility, or vigor; feeble: the meager soil of an eroded plain. 3. droppings from the sunlit sun·lit adj. Illuminated by the sun. Adj. 1. sunlit - lighted by sunlight; "the sunlit slopes of the canyon"; "violet valleys and the sunstruck ridges"- Wallace Stegner sunstruck layer above, others to diets of bacteria that break down oil, sulphur and methane, the sunken bones of dead whales and other such foods. According to Edward Vanden Berghe of the Ocean Biogeographic bi·o·ge·og·ra·phy n. The study of the geographic distribution of organisms. bi  o·ge·og Information System, the database has 5,722 species that are found deeper
than 1,000 metres and 17,650 species for which all recorded observations
are deeper than 200 metres -- the depth where darkness stops
photosynthesis.
" Unlike species from near- shore waters which are well documented, deep sea waters were relatively unexplored and the knowledge was limited. For every two species found in deep sea, one is bound to be new to science", pointed out Dr Mohideen Wafar, chairman of the Indian Ocean Census of Marine Life project based in Goa. While the collective findings are still being analysed for release next year, scientists say patterns of the abundance, distribution and diversity of deep- sea life around the world are already apparent. As part of the census project, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution have collected a very large specimen of a rare, primitive animal known as cirrate or finned octopod, commonly called " Dumbos" because they flap a pair of large ear- like fins to swim, akin to the cartoon flying elephant. The jumbo Dumbo Dumbo little elephant’s huge ears take him up and away. [Am. Cinema: Dumbo in Disney Films, 49–53] See : Flying netted was estimated to be nearly two metres long and, at 6 kg, the largest of only a few specimens of the species that have been obtained. Census scientists estimate that about 230,000 species of marine animals have been described and reside in jars in collections in museums of natural history and other repositories. By 2010, the goal is to have all the old and the new species in an online encyclopedia with a webpage for every species. Copyright 2009 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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