Ocean Life
Report reveals ‘unseen’ human benefits from ocean twilight zone
A new report from researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) reveals for the first time the unseen—and somewhat surprising—benefits that people receive from the ocean’s twilight zone. Also known as the “mesopelagic,” this is the ocean layer just beyond the sunlit surface.
Read MoreValue Beyond View: The Ocean Twilight Zone
How does the ocean twilight zone benefit life on Earth? The ocean twilight zone helps regulates our climate. Storing two to six billion tons of carbon annually. That’s up to six times the amount of carbon emitted from autos worldwide. Preventing an increase in temperature between 6-11°F. The ocean twilight zone supports a healthy ocean ecosystem. Containing 10 times more fish than the rest of the ocean. Providing food for many other animals in the ocean. The ocean twilight zone could also play an important role in feeding a growing population. We are working to better understand this realm in order to inform sustainable management decisions.
Read MorePhytoplankton and Primary Production in a Changing (sub) Arctic
Michael Lomas, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences Sponsored by: MC&G Department
Read MoreOpen Ocean Diving Observations
Watch and learn how blue and black water diving is conducted in the open ocean and what these divers see during the day and during the twilight zone migration at night.
Read MoreTagging and Tracking Wild Squid
Squid are ecologically important marine animals that play a key role in many ocean ecosystems and fisheries. Measuring squid movements, energetics, and habitat use in their natural environment provides important insight into their ecology. However, because the inherent challenges of monitoring these soft-bodied, open-ocean-dwelling organisms, fine-scale observations of their behavior are rare. Bio-logging tags are an increasingly useful way to remotely study squid behavior in their natural environments.
Read More2019 Year in Review
Enjoy this montage of video captured throughout 2019 documenting how WHOI researchers explore the ocean planet to tackle the most pressing questions about our water world and find solutions to benefit society.
Read MoreMarch of the Penguins
Emperor penguins are some of the most striking and charismatic animals on Earth, but a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has found that a warming climate may render them extinct by the end of this century. The study, which was part of an international collaboration between scientists, published Nov. 7, 2019, in the journal Global Change Biology.
The fate of the penguins is largely tied to the fate of sea ice, which the animals use as a home base for breeding, feeding and molting, she notes. Emperor penguins tend to build their colonies on ice with extremely specific conditions—it must be locked into the shoreline of the Antarctic continent, but close enough to open seawater to give the birds access to food for themselves and their young. As climate warms, however, that sea ice will gradually disappear, robbing the birds of their habitat, food sources, and ability to raise their chicks.
Jenouvrier and her team conducted the study by combining two existing computer models. The first, a global climate model created by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), offered projections of where and when sea ice would form under different climate scenarios. The second, a model of the penguin population itself, calculated how colonies might react to changes in that ice habitat.
Read MoreWhale Blow Microbiome
Researchers from WHOI, NOAA Fisheries Southwest Science Center, SR3 Sealife, and the Vancouver Aquarium analyzed whale blow samples collected via drone to identify a core group of bacteria in the respiratory tract of healthy whales.
Read MoreWhale Biopsy Collection
A team gathers skin samples from healthy humpback whales in waters off the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Researchers obtain samples by releasing a biopsy-collecting dart, which bounces off the whales’ skin and into the water. The team then retrieves the floating dart and brings it back to a lab for analysis.
Read MoreGirls in Science Program: bioacoustics
August 2019: Woods Hole Sea Grant has teamed up with Earthwatch Institute on the Girls in Science Fellowship. This fellowship aims to promote diversity and expose young women to a variety of marine careers in STEM. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Research Specialist Laela Sayigh is the principal investigator working with the fellows analyzing marine mammal bioacoustics data.
Read MoreRelax with the Ocean (playlist)
Sit back and relax with this collection of ocean beauty shots and atmospheric music.
Read MoreTagging Sharks to Study the Twilight Zone
Former WHOI Joint Program graduate student and current University of Washington postdoc Camrin Braun and his team on the charter fishing vessel Machaca managed to tag two porbeagles, a relative of the goblin shark, about 30 miles east of Chatham, Mass. One was a female nearly seven feet long and weighing 270 pounds. A male came alongside the boat while the team was tagging her and, when they were finished, they quickly hooked the curious male, which measured 6.5 feet and weighed 230 pounds.
Both fish are now equipped with fin-mounted SPOT satellite tags, which will report their location each time they surface and can last up to five years. For the Ocean Twilight Zone team, the big predators are an important indicator of where mesopelagic animals are collecting deep below the surface. In short, the predator will go where the prey is.
Read MorePhysiology of Lipid-Storing Copepods Along the West Antarctic Peninsula
Ann Tarrant, WHOI Sponsored by: Biology Department
Read MoreClassification of Marine Mammal Vocalizations in Seismic Environment
Thomas Guilment, University of Louisiana, Lafayette Sponsored by: AOP&E Department
Read MorePaul Caiger hunts for things that glow in the Ocean Twilight Zone
Paul Caiger is a fish biologist, marine photographer and postdoctoral investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). From the ghoulish grimace of the viperfish, to the bejeweled beauty of the strawberry squid, Caiger’s marine portraits have helped shine a light in this dark but critical ocean zone.
Read MoreLife at the Edge (video series)
Watch this two-part series following a group of scientists as they explore what makes the shelf break front such a productive and diverse part of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.
Read MoreCorals as Predators: New Perspectives on the Trophic Ecology of Reef-Building Corals
Michael Fox, WHOI Sponsored by: Biology Department
Read MoreA pop of red in the twilight zone
This bejeweled beauty is a strawberry squid (Histioteuthis reversa), sampled from the ocean twilight zone, a mysterious stratum of the…
Read MoreRight Whales
The North Atlantic right whale is one of the most endangered whales in the world—only roughly 400 remain. Learn how…
Read MoreBrisingids sea stars are the velcro of the deep sea
This festive collection of bright orange filter-feeding brisingid sea stars and scavenging sea urchins were found on a rocky seamount…
Read MoreHow microbes reflect the health of coral reefs
A collaborative study compared seawater from 25 reefs in Cuba and the U.S. Florida Keys varying in human impact and protection, and found that those with higher microbial diversity and lower concentrations of nutrients and organic carbon—primarily caused by human activities—were markedly healthier.
Read MoreSea anemones with jet lag?
WHOI scientists investigate the internal body clocks of sea anemones to determine if fluctuating temperatures play a role in their daily rhythms.
Read MoreOcean Microbes: Novel Study Underscores Microbial Individuality
A single drop of seawater can contain a wide representation of ocean microbes from around the world — revealing novel insights into the ecology, evolution and biotechnology potential of the global microbiome.
Underwater pile driving noise causes alarm responses in squid
Exposure to underwater pile driving noise, which can be associated with the construction of docks, piers, and offshore wind farms, causes squid to exhibit strong alarm behaviors.
Read More