Leopard Seal on ice (Peter Lee)

An orca has a look at the N.B. Palmer (Sasha Tozzi)

A group of orcas (Sasha Tozzi)

The dinoflagellate Protoperidinium. Some dinoflagellates can eat algae that are much larger than themselves by attaching to the larger cell and sucking out its insides. (Julie Rose)

The ciliate Cymatocylis. Some ciliates and dinoflagellates will eat all of an algal cell except its chloroplasts, which the grazer then uses to photosynthesize and get energy for itself. (Julie Rose)

Sampling algae growing under the sea ice.

Pteropod Clione antarctica. (Jenny Dreyer)

Jack DiTullio, chief scientist, anonymously nominated as "most amazing organism". (Anonymous)

Questions from High Tech High School of North Bergen, NJ

We, the biology students of High Tech High School of North Bergen, NJ, recently had the opportunity to observe the phytoplankton of the nearby Hackensack river, courtesy of the High Tech High School Riverkeepers.

We were wondering, if you can answer our question: "What is the most interesting organism you have found on your expidition?"

Thank you
Bio classes and Ms. Lavlinskaia, a teacher

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Dear Bio classes of High Tech and Ms. Lavlinskaia,
We received your email and thought your question was wonderful. We are asking various members of the science party for their opinions on which organisms were the most interesting and will get back to you shortly (hopefully with pictures too).

-Mak Saito

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Here are more answers:

Hello -

Rob Dunbar again. Even though nearly all the scientists on this cruise are studying the very small plants that live here in the Ross Sea, of course we also like the large and obvious animals we encounter. Everyday we see Weddell seals and Adelie penguins. Most days we see a few Emperor penguins and Leopard seals and Crabeater seals. We've also seen Minke whales and a few Orcas (Killer Whales). Out of all the larger marine animals in the Ross Sea, my favorite is the Southern Bottlenose Whale. While we haven't seen them on this cruise yet, I have seen them about once every 5 years in the past. They come into the Ross Sea to feed on fish in summer when the polynya is large. Why do I like them? Well.....they are extremely rare and almost never observed by man. They are large beaked whales and are white, like the Beluga whale of the Arctic. Imagine a porpoise like Flipper. Then imagine it as 40 to 50 feet long and white and shiny, like snow covered ice. Then imagine 15 of them travelling together in a tight-knit family unit called a pod. If you want to learn more about them, try searching on the web......

[NOTE - it was a Bottlenose Whale that swam up the River Thames this past weekend (1/20-22). Unfortunately, it did not survive the attempt to bring it back to the open ocean. See the following link for online coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4635874.stm ]

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Hello -

My name is Walker Smith, and I work at the College of William and Mary Marine Institute in Williamsburg, VA.I have been working in the Antarctic for 22 years, and work on phytoplankton.Even though I work with microscopic organisms, my favorite organisms down here are adelie penguins.Penguins occur throughout the world, even in tropical waters, but they are most common in cooler waters.They need certain locations in which to form nests, like other birds, as well as access to the ocean to feed.So the numbers of adelie penguins are limited by both nesting sites and foraging access.

Adelie’s often look pretty silly on the ice, as they waddle and slide across it to enter the water.Within the water, however, they are incredibly agile and fantastic swimmers.Being sort of small (each one weighs about 30 lbs.), they can change direction rapidly and swim very rapidly.To exit the water, they simply jet out of the water and land on the ice.Landing, however, can be a bit awkward, to say the least.

Adelie’s in the Ross Sea are really interesting, as they are one of the top members of the food web.They eat mostly a special type of krill called crystal krill, as well as large amounts of a small fish called Pleurogamma. They are obligate psychrophiles, meaning they must have ice in which to exist and thrive. So if the ice were to melt, the Adelie penguins would disappear. In the Antarctic peninsula, where it is warming very fast (about 1ºF per decade, on average), Adelie’s are disappearing and are being replaced by other penguins that do not use the ice.In the Ross Sea, however, the situation is reversed; Adelie’s are increasing in numbers, perhaps due to the increasing ice concentrations we find here.There are fossilized penguin colonies, where scientists find old eggs and nests, and they can be dated accurately. From them we know the temperatures thousand’s of years ago.

One of the largest penguin colonies in the world is located close to where we study at a site called Cape Crozier. There are about 100,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins there, and when they are actively feeding in the summer, they deplete their food resources near the colony.So they have to forage, or gather food, up to 100 kms (60 miles) from their nests.All of that time they are swimming in the ocean, and can sometimes fall prey to their two major predators: orcas, or more importantly, leopard seals.Leopard seals can grab a penguin and shake it when it is in its teeth, and the carcass of the bird can come straight out of its skin and feathers!No one said it was an easy life for a penguin.

There are so many neat things about these animals, and I am sure you can think of many questions you can’t yet answer.For example, why don’t penguin feet freeze when they are on the ice? How do they stay warm? How do they recognize their mate? How long do the chicks stay with the parents? Or, how do they taste? [Hint: stick with chicken tenders] If you can think of questions about penguins, let us know and we can try to help you figure them out!

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I love working with algae, but I must admit that my favorite organism in the Antarctic is a little bigger: the Killer whale (Latin name Orcinus orca). Killer whales were so named because they were believed to attack human beings. However we now know this not to be true. Killer whales are not actually whales but are the largest members of the dolphin family (Family Delphinidae). They have a white abdomen as well as a white patch behind the eye, and the rest of their body is black. Killer whales in the Antarctic may have a brownish hue to their white patches because of diatoms. They also have a very tall dorsal fin, which distinguishes them from other whales. Male killer whales are larger than females, growing to 9 meters (30 feet) in length, while females reach only 7 meters (23 feet). Killer whales are carnivores, feeding on seals, fish, squid, penguins and even whales. In the Antarctic, killer whales and leopard seals are the top organisms of the food chain. Killer whales can be found in all of the world’s oceans, but live primarily in colder waters. They travel in groups called “pods” that can consist of as many as 50 individuals. Most of the individuals are related and usually consist of males and females, as well as calves and juveniles. Killer whales can remain under water for up to 17 minutes and dive as deep as 260 meters (853 feet).

-Aimee Neeley

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My favorite organisms in the Antarctic are microscopic, and I’m especially interested in the kinds of microorganisms that eat algae. Scientists call these types of organisms algal grazers, since they are feeding on plant-like microbes. My two favorite groups of algal grazers are ciliates and dinoflagellates. Both of these groups were named for their type of locomotion. Ciliates move around using structures called cilia and dinoflagellates are named for the Greek word “dinos”, which means ‘to whirl’. Dinoflagellates have two flagella, one that propels them forward and one that causes them to spin as they move. As algal grazers, these organisms can be really important in the food webs of aquatic ecosystems. Ciliates and dinoflagellates can also do all kinds of neat things. Some dinoflagellates can eat algae that are much larger than themselves by attaching to the larger cell and sucking out its insides. Some ciliates and dinoflagellates will eat all of an algal cell except its chloroplasts, which the grazer then uses to photosynthesize and get energy for itself. I have included a picture of Protoperidinium, which is a dinoflagellate, and Cymatocylis, which is a ciliate.

-Julie Rose

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Hey there avid students of bio! Rob Dunbar here. I am a teacher and researcher at Stanford University in California. Every summer I hire 3 to 4 high school students to work in my lab - as science interns - so they can help us learn, and learn themselves, about the Antarctic seas.

My favorite organisms down here are the ice algae - so named because they live inside the sea ice. These little plants actually live in tiny channels filled with brine, within the solid sea ice. Sometimes these brines are really salty - up to 3 times the saltiness of the ocean. And these brines can be cold, as much as 10 to 20 degrees below zero centigrade. Yet these little plants do just fine, and keep on growing, fixing carbon as long as there is sunlight penetrating into the ice. In some areas of Antarctica, these little ice algae are the base of the food chain. When you think that each year, as you go from summer to winter to summer again the amount of sea ice that forms and then melts is as large as all of North America, you can start to appreciate how important these little guys must be.......

Cheers,
Rob

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There are many interesting phytoplankton organisms in Antarctica but I have also been looking at what we find in zooplankton tows and they are equally interesting and an important part of the Antarctic foodweb. One of my favorite organisms is the pteropod, which is a mollusc. These animals are called sea butterflies because they appear to fly through the water with appendages like wings. There are two species we are finding here in the Ross Sea; Limacina helicina antarctica and Clione antarctica. L. antarctica feeds on the phytoplankton has a shell similar to a snail, and is black in color. In contrast, C. antarctica feeds on the Limacina, does not have a shell, and is bright pink in color. Their graceful movements in the water make them spectacular to watch as their wings move up and down. I never grow tired of watching them and they are pretty amazing creatures.

-Jenny Dreyer

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