Under The Hurricane

TAMPA A team of scientists rode the wake of Hurricane Katrina to discover new species of marine life teeming deep below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico.

Working in a minisubmarine 200 miles west of Tampa, members of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce found a handful of previously unknown critters and observed exotic adaptations and behavior in others. Just as important, the scientists spent time in surreal, submerged worlds never before seen or studied.

"Ninety-five percent of the bottom of the oceans are unknown to us," says Fred Gorell, a spokesman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's office of ocean exploration. "This mission was an opportunity to get some eyes down there."

The researchers studied a deep-sea crab with powerful eyeballs, took video of a large, newly discovered type of squid, and stumbled across the world's first known shark that glows in the dark.

Despite having to evade Hurricane Katrina, the crew completed its Deep Scope expedition over Labor Day weekend aboard two research vessels. The goal was to test new marine technologies and to better understand how creatures cope in the deep waters of the Gulf.

The team boarded the Johnson-Sea-Link I submersible, capable of diving to depths of 3,000 feet, and targeted hard bottom landscapes. While working on the Viosca Knoll about 140 miles southeast of New Orleans, the scientists were forced to dodge Katrina and take refuge for three days in Galveston, Texas.

The ship's crew took special precautions to avoid hurricane debris as they cruised from Texas back to the Viosca Knoll, according to a Harbor Branch report. They encountered extensive garbage, but nothing that threatened their surface ship. They also saw signs of damage on oil rigs thrashed by hard winds and high seas.

One of the more intriguing finds was a crab that detects ultraviolet light on the sea floor. UV sensitivity is common in animals that live closer to the surface but has never been discovered in a deep species, says Tammy Frank, a visual ecologist from Harbor Branch.

The reasons for this seemingly bizarre ability are not clear, Frank says, but the sensitivity could point to a deep-sea light source about which researchers are not aware. Or, it could be from a light source such as bioluminescence, the light chemically produced by countless open ocean organisms.

The scientists also studied a six-foot squid believed to be a new species. What surprised researchers is how poorly explored the deep sea remains if such a large animal can go undiscovered.

"If a six-foot squid is out there that we didn't know of," Gorell says, "what other amazing things will we find?"

The squid was attracted by a flashing light lure designed to mimic a deep-sea jellyfish's bioluminescence, a device the Harbor Branch team continues to use to learn how animals react to light at such depths.

Perhaps the most intriguing find was a fluorescent dogfish shark. Fluorescence occurs when an animal or object absorbs light of one color and then glows in another color. Scientists want to study the proteins that cause fluorescence for genetic research, because they could lead to drugs that benefit people.

"The ocean is so incredibly important to us," Gorell says. "It provides half the oxygen needed for life, food, and regulates our global temperature. And even though it's so important, we know incredibly little about it."