Notices by 🌱 Alix 🐌 (snailix@scicomm.xyz)

new profile pic who dis

The lights from ROV Hercules bounced beautifully off of the reflective cilia on this lobate ctenophore floating above the seafloor. While most ctenophores seen this expedition tended to have a clear or white coloration, this species had an interesting neon green glow. With a low-light camera and ROV lights extinguished, an observer could see this creature bioluminesce, or use a chemical reaction within its body to produce the only light normally found at these dark depths.

Continuing with the theme of colors that normally go unseen, this purple sea cucumber in the family Synallactidae caught the team’s eye as a pop of color against the grey seafloor of manganese nodules seen throughout the seamount chain. Nodules are created by the precipitation of manganese out of the water column over time and the rate of precipitation is well documented meaning the thickness of a manganese crust gives geologists a rough estimate on the age of these geologic formations.

One of the best moments that I witnessed this season while watching the Nautilus Live stream was back in July during the Pacific Seamounts Expedition off of Haida Gwaii.

The team came upon an amazing coral field that featured this GINORMOUS coral that could be 100s to 1000s of years old based on deep sea growth rates. I wish I had better pics than screengrabs but once the expedition wraps up Nautilus will be releasing all the best quality images.

I made this friend a few months back after a big rain. I decided to add a little anatomy lesson to the mix, I love these little squishes.

Me exploding things at work

this is my favorite picture that I've taken in a while. it's a colony of hydroid (invertebrate animals) that use their tentacles to stun prey and pull it into their mouths. this species is called the pink hearted hydroid. plz always send me weird ocean things. weird shit from the ocean is my life blood.