No Bones

Squid Pops! Measuring marine predation, informing policy and resource management

Smithsonian researchers are experimenting with a new technique to quantify the local degree of predation by fish at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Although predation is a key aspect of almost every ecosystem, marine scientists have typically focused on seemingly more readily measurable factors, like pH, salinity, and temperature.

An aerial view of the Carrie Bow Cay research station. (Credit: I. Feller)

In this case, the scientists are deploying a simple but ingenious tool: “squid pops.” Squid make scrumptious snacks for predatory fish in any marine environment. Like any scientific study, however, the researchers need an easily measurable unit, so the squid are formed into same-sized disks and then dehydrated. The dehydrated disks are then deployed from the seafloor by tethering to a stake with fishing line. Twenty-four hours after deploying the squid pops in a study location, the researchers return to observe whether or not local fish have eaten the squid pops. The degree to which the squid pops have been consumed is an indicator of the level of predation (or the activity of fish feeding) in the marine ecosystem under study.

One key aspect of this new method is the ease with which it can be extended to other locations. As a result, the technique can be adapted to study sites around the world. This latter fact is good news, because the predation study in Carrie Bow Cay is just one part of a much larger effort, known as the Tennenbaum Marine Observatory Network (TMON). And this network is just one component of the Smithsonian’s Marine Global Earth Observatories project. In other words, scientists will be able to assess predatory fish populations, and the pressure they place on potential prey species, at marine biological observatories around the world.

The Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce’s fall 2014 newsletter. Read more!

Over time, as TMON expands and continues collecting key ecosystem data, the network will produce invaluable new information on the current state of the ecosystems studied. For example, the predatory information garnered from the squid pop studies will allow scientists to compare the predatory fish populations along undeveloped and developed shorelines, inside and outside marine protected areas, etc. Ultimately, the various types of information gathered by TMON researchers will support policy-making efforts and the decisions of resource managers.

By Liz Boatman 

 

Read more about TMON activities on the Marine Global Earth Observatories website. More information on Smithsonian’s Carrie Bow Cay research station.

Documenting Invertebrate Biodiversity of a Poorly Explored Marine Region

I recently participated in a biodiversity survey of the Farasan Islands with Robert Lasley, a former Smithsonian Predoctoral Fellow, as part of an effort to document and catalog the biodiversity of the Red Sea.

A coral reef in the Farasan Islands (Credit: Tane Sinclair-Taylor)

The project is led by Dr. Michael Berumen at the Red Sea Research Center at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An international team of taxonomic experts on corals, other marine invertebrates, and fish returned to the Red Sea for the third time to sample the coral reef biodiversity of the Farasan Islands in the southern Red Sea near the border of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Previous expeditions were aimed at coral reef surveys in the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern Red Sea, and the central Red Sea coral reefs near the KAUST campus in Thuwal.

The marine invertebrate team processing specimens (Credit: Tane Sinclair-Taylor)

The Red Sea lies at the westernmost boundary of the largest and most diverse marine habitat on the planet – the Indo-Pacific. It has a connection to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, and some invertebrate species may cross the canal barrier, through a process called Lessepsian migration. Documenting the biodiversity of this largely unexplored marine region is key to understanding connectivity in populations of marine species.

Chaetopteridae collected in the Red Sea (Credits: Jenna Moore and Robert Lasley)

As the marine invertebrate team, we were focused on collecting as many of the coral reef invertebrate species as possible by turning rocks, breaking dead coral colonies, and sifting through sand and rubble. While the diversity of the Red Sea fauna is lower than in the famous coral triangle of the west Pacific, it is extremely unique. Chaetopteridae, also called parchment tube worms, are particularly diverse in the Red Sea and form the focus of my Smithsonian research project on their systematics and phylogeny. The specimens collected during this expedition will be included in a phylogeny of the family to help understand how the species in this globally distributed family are related to one another.

The international team of researchers poses for a photo in the Red Sea (Credit: Tane Sinclair-Taylor)

 

by Jenna Moore (Predoctoral Fellow at NMNH)

Teaching biodiversity with parasites in Guyana

Most of us will never have the bizarre and fascinating opportunity to be up-close and personal with a live parasite. But for research zoologist Anna Phillips of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology, parasites are a way of life--in the lab, anyway. Earlier this year, as part of a research specimen collecting trip in Guyana, Anna also participated in an education event with students majoring in biology at the University of Guyana in Georgetown. Anna not only taught these students the finer points of how to look for parasites in birds, such as tapeworms, nematodes, and trematodes, but also how to prepare such worms for scientific study.

Organized by Chris Milensky, museum specialist in the Birds Division of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, the education outreach component of the trip was intended to demonstrate applied skills related to real-world research, in the context of enhancing the students' awareness and appreciation of biodiversity in their home country. Although all of the college students who participated are majoring in biology, which is a very broad discipline, Anna noted that their career ambitions were surprisingly narrow and focused mostly on the medical field.

Anna talks with undergraduates from the University of Guyana about bird parasites.

Because these students live in a country rich in biodiversity, Anna felt that this disparity was particularly important to address in the workshop. "I really wanted to impress on them there are more careers in biology than just being a doctor," says Anna, continuing to explain that "a lot of the students didn't really know about biodiversity research."

For similar reasons, Anna was warmly surprised to realize that the students were eager to understand "why the Smithsonian would come all the way to their country to talk about biodiversity."

 

Encounters with T. rex (the tyrant leech king!)

 What if you looked in the mirror and saw a living organism squirming out of your nose? Sounds like something from a horror movie, right?

Photo 1: Myxobdella annandalei exiting a dog’s nose (Photograph courtesy of PLOS ONE [1])

 Well, that was the case with Daniela Liverani, who found out that a 3-inch leech had been living in her nose for two weeks. As it turns out, this isn’t just a leech that strayed a little and got lost – there is a whole group of leeches that will attach themselves to and feed on mucous membrane surfaces of mammals (a condition called orificial hirudiniasis).

 

 “These leeches are very stealthy. You would think you would notice an inch-long (or more!) worm crawling up your nose, but they seem to be able to go unnoticed for quite some time before the person complains,” states Dr. Anna Phillips, Invertebrate Zoology research zoologist and curator of Clitellata and Platyhelminthes at the National Museum of Natural History.

Photo 2: Tyrannobdella rex (Credit: National Institute of Health of Peru)

 In the past, Anna and her co-authors described a new species of leech discovered in Peru and established its evolutionary origins using molecular data. This species, Tyrannobdella rex, or “tyrant leech king”, belongs to the family Praobdellidae, which includes leeches that attach themselves to mammals’ mucous membranes to feed on their blood. But T. rex is unique in that it has only one jaw and only one row of teeth [1].

 

We Need More Alvins in Biodiversity – Hydroids from Belize

Here we are on Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, at a somewhat remote and really wonderful marine field station operated by the Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS) at Fort Pierce, Florida. We are two fortunate scientists, one Brazilian and one from the USA, who share a love for tiny animals known as hydroids, which are relatives of the generally much larger anemones and corals. More about hydroids in a minute.

 

A view of the Carrie Bow Cay Field Station from one of the best little outhouses in the world.

 

Questioning our legacy

Part of the trip to Carrie Bow Cay involves a stopover in Dangriga, a city of about 9,000 people. Neither of us had been to Belize before and we soon found ourselves walking around town when a young boy, perhaps 6 or 7, came up to match our cadence and chat with us as we proceeded down a rutted dirt road. We exchanged names and handshakes with Alvin, and learned that he had an injured foot and was struggling to keep up with us. As we slowed our pace, another young boy yelled asking what this kid was doing with us, two obvious foreigners. This second boy did not express curiosity about what we were doing, but rather what the first boy was doing with us. 

This exchange has stuck with us as we have now spent a few days in a rather idyllic location studying the biodiversity (basically hunting for, identifying and documenting) of animals that we find fascinating. As scientists, we are aware of the papers that have been written earlier on topics that are relevant to our interests. Charles Darwin, in 1842, called this region “the most remarkable reef in the West Indies”. For hydroids, besides scattered and somewhat imprecise records in old literature, there have been just two papers written about the hydroids of Belize, one by an American researcher in 1982 and one by a Canadian in 1991. Why, 172 years after Darwin, or at least 23 years after the Canadian Dale Calder, haven’t any Belizean or other Central American’s been interested enough to study the hydroids of Belizean reef and mangrove habitats? These environments provide food, income from tourism and, one would hope, pride and joy for Belizeans. Hydroids are ubiquitous and integral players in these environments here and in many others around the world, and yet it is just a handful of countries whose scientists study them.

 

Sampling of hydroid diversity that we have documented during our trip. A: Clytia sp. 1; B: Clytia sp. 2; C: Dynamena disticha; D. Dynamena crisioides; E. Halopteris diaphana; F: Nemalecium lighti. All of these photos were taken without the aid of a microscope, which is a necessary tool for observing the microscopic details necessary for identifying hydroids.

 

We know that part of our collections will reside in Belize for potential study, and those that make it back into the collections of the Department of Invertebrate Zoology of NMNH (Smithsonian Institution), including DNA and RNA extracts, will be available for any researchers from around the world to either visit or borrow. These scientific resources represent one tangible contribution of our work here for the future. We are also documenting and photographing as many species as possible during our short visit, thereby providing observations that can used to assess change through time. In addition, today we have tentative plans to share some of our work and findings with a nearby eco-adventure/education outfit. But both of us would like nothing more than to be collaborating with one or more Belizean researchers who could understand the joy we feel in studying hydroid biodiversity.

 

Some hydroid diversity from nearby Carrie Bow Cay

The word hydroid actually refers to one life stage, the benthic polyp stage of the class Hydrozoa of the phylum Cnidaria (stony corals, soft corals, anemones, jellyfish, siphonophores, etc.), which include all animals that contain microscopic stinging organelles known as nematocysts. Many hydrozoans undergo what is called an alternation of generations, involving a benthic polyp stage (hydroid) and a free-swimming jellyfish stage (hydromedusa). This polyp stage can be solitary, but often hydroids form colonies, by which we mean that a single polyp, with a gut and mouth, often surrounded by tentacles, buds additional polyps that are connected with the first polyp. These polyps tend to be very small, usually less than 1 mm in dimension, and in many species polyps can be specialized to serve different functions for the colony, such as defense, feeding, and reproduction. Despite their small these, hydroids can be voracious predators of small plankton.

 

Sampling of hydroid diversity that we have documented during our trip. A: Pennaria disticha, in situ; B: Zanclea alba; C: Symmetroscyphus intermedius. All of these photos were taken without the aid of a microscope, which is a necessary tool for observing the microscopic details necessary for identifying most hydroids.

 

So far, in a few days of work we have found about 20 different species of hydroid. World diversity exceeds 3,000 different species. Much of the diversity we have documented is fairly common, and already recorded from the area in prior work. However, we have had some exceptions, finding animals that have never been reported from Belize before, such as a species of Dicoryne or Hydrodendron. One other exciting discovery for us has been finding the reproductive polyps (gonothecae) of Symmetroscyphus intermedius. Such reproductive structures are commonly used in taxonomy and so our finding provides information that helps better characterize this species.

It would be nice if Alvin could be keeping pace with us in this way too!

 

By Allen G. Collins and Antonio Marques

Yo, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Shells

Jerry Harasewych and Marilee McNeilus inside the Curasub on a DROP dive, off the coast of southern Curaçao. The sub is owned by Dutch Schrier, owner and operator of the Curaçao Sea Aquarium.

Invertebrate Zoology (IZ) research zoologist Jerry Harasewych has recently developed a special interest in glass bottles recovered from the sea floor. Several years ago, Jerry noticed that many such bottles contained tiny snail shells. It turns out, the bottles are home to small octopuses (e.g., Macrotritopus cf. defillipi) that capture and bring the shells back into the bottles to feed on their inhabitants, leaving the empty shells to accumulate in the bottle.

 Jerry first observed this phenomenon on dives using the "Curasub" submersible off the coast of Curaçao. These dives were conducted as part of the Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP), which is a long-term collaboration between the Smithsonian and the Curaçao Sea Aquarium, owned by Adrian "Dutch" Schrier. Since discovering the peculiar shell-filled bottles, Jerry has started collecting them as a means of conveniently recovering large numbers of shells from difficult-to-sample deep sea locations.

 

According to Jerry, these shells are small—small enough to fit through the mouth of a glass soda bottle! That also means these shells are usually too small to see by eye through the curved windows of the submarine. Instead, "the octopus is finding them for us," says Jerry, appreciative of his new "collaborators." Depending on how long a given bottle has been submerged, it can contain empty shells from weeks, months, or even years of meals. 

A bottle full of sand and tiny sea snail shells sits more than 900 feet below the ocean’s surface.

From a handful of bottles already analyzed in the lab, Jerry and his colleagues have discovered several new species of snail, some already published (such as Attenuiconus marileeae), others still in manuscript form. The team has also uncovered many significant extensions to the known distributions of other deepwater species. Of course, Jerry warns that this technique is not without limitations.

 

This octopus was recovered from a bottle collected by Jerry Harasewych and the Curasub’s crew at about 900 feet deep. IZ research zoologist Mike Vecchione has tentatively identified the species as Macrotritopus cf. defillipi.

To begin with, almost all of the shells recovered from the bottles are simply that--shells. Their original snail inhabitants are long gone. In fact, Jerry has observed that most of these shells exhibit the telltale signs of subsequent habitation by hermit crabs. Pointing to the broken edge of a shell, Jerry states matter-of-factly, "no self-respecting snail would live in a shell like that."

 

Many of the shells have evidence of tube worms on their surfaces—or even in their openings. Some of the shells are from snail species known to burrow in the sediment, so the presence of tube worms and encrustations of animals that only grow on surfaces exposed above the sea floor indicates that the octopuses collecting these snail shells weren't eating snails at all, but hermit crabs. 

 

The sorted contents of one bottle reveal nearly one hundred snail shells, most recently inhabited by hermit crabs.

Of course, each bottle can contain as many as one hundred snail shells. The full contents of a bottle must be sorted, cleaned, identified, catalogued, and imaged, in many cases using a scanning electron microscope because the distinctive features are so small. This work has benefited greatly from the energetic help and support of Marilee McNeilus, who has an extensive interest in mollusks. Marilee has not only participated in the dives using the Curasub, but she has also put in long hours sorting and processing the specimens. Rosemary Ginzberg has recently joined the effort, producing the scanning electron microscope images that will be added to the Electronic Museum ("EMu") records as the tiny shell specimens are catalogued and entered into the museum's collections.

 

The ultimate goal is to collect living specimens of many of the more rare species that have been discovered in the bottles, so that they can be used in anatomical and molecular studies. To aid this effort, prototypes of traps and substrate arrays are being designed and deployed in areas that have produced the most interesting finds.

 

 

Scanning electron microscope images of a sea snail, captured by IZ volunteer Rosemary Ginzberg. Such images will be included in the museum’s online catalogue, EMu, freely accessible to the public.

Most of the bottles were sampled at depths of 400-1,000 feet, from an area off the southern coast of Curaçao near Willamstadt that has been used as a harbor since 1634. Bottles are not uncommon on the bottom in that area, the result of nearly four centuries of accumulation. Still, the vast majority are modern, with easily recognizable shapes and brand names.

 

Although the bottle technique is a great adjunct to sampling using submarines, it should, in theory, be applicable at most subtidal depths. Many biologists as well as hobbyist shell collectors are also SCUBA divers, and Jerry hopes to see the new technique expanded to snorkel and SCUBA depths. Jerry will be advocating this approach among friends and colleagues at various shell and SCUBA club meetings in the near future, and he expects preliminary reports of others recovering bottles to begin arriving within a year.

By Liz Boatman and Jerry Harasewych

NMNH Volunteers Tour NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer, Appreciate Opportunity to Feel “Closer” to Ocean Research

On September 14, ocean-loving volunteers from the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) were afforded a unique and exciting opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of cutting edge ocean research. Ocean education specialist Trish Mace organized a special tour of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Okeanos Explorer, a research vessel regularly used by ocean scientists, including members of NMNH’s department of Invertebrate Zoology (IZ; see links below). Volunteers Mahesh Lavannis and Deirdre Holder relate the group’s experience.

Earlier this month, we were invited on a special tour of the Federally-funded Okeanos Explorer. While none of us had ever been on the Okeanos before, we were familiar with the ship from our work at NMNH. Because this was the first time we were able to see her live, our group of volunteers and associated family was very excited.

Preparing to board the Okeanos. The white ball on top of the ship provides satellite communications at sea. The ship is operated by both commissioned officers and civilians.

Most importantly, our visit allowed us to observe the camaraderie among the crew – the navigators and the scientists who work in coordination, which is crucial for mission success. In fact, the experience was so fascinating that some of us began to wonder why we hadn't followed the career paths of the Okeanos’ crew!

 

Ocean science on the Okeanos

The Okeanos is typically used for three main purposes: sonar mapping of the ocean floor, providing researchers with visuals of little-explored areas to direct future research efforts, and sharing the excitement of ocean exploration with the public. 

A member of the Okeanos crew explains aspects of navigation at sea to the NMNH volunteers.

One particularly exciting aspect of this tour was meeting the individual who designed the Okeanos’ remotely operated vehicle (ROV or “deep seat robot”). When deployed in the ocean, the ROV transmits back high-resolution videos of deep-sea corals, octopuses, jellyfish, snails, crabs, starfish, urchins, sea cucumbers, fish and more, in addition to data regarding ambient conditions, like temperature. Of course, this ship has many, many more neat features. For example, scientists can join the crew via “telepresence.” Using a satellite link, the ship broadcasts the ROV feed to the Internet in real-time – and any member of the public can also access this video.

The NMNH volunteers learn about the Seirios camera sled that can be towed by the Okeanos.

In addition, have you ever thought about how camera systems calibrate color at the bottom of the ocean?  At such depths, the cameras are operating in extremely low natural light. The systems employ their own lighting so that video can be captured, but ensuring that the color spectrum being captured looks as it should is a very complicated task, requiring certain technical capabilities and trained crew.

A large winch is used to tow the Seirios (as well as the ROV). 

  

Okeanos experience will enhance volunteers’ ability to communicate with NMNH visitors

Because we volunteer so much of our time in the Sant Ocean Hall at NMNH, it was exciting to tour this active ocean research vessel, which regularly provides research opportunities to our museum’s scientists. During the tour, it was clear that the benefits of this relationship go both ways. For example, we asked a lot of questions – but the crew asked us just as many! Overall, the crewmembers were very interested in our ability to help them connect with the museum’s visitors and relate their story.

The NMNH volunteers learn about geographic mapping underwater.

In fact, NMNH’s youngest visitors are often the most impressive: they have so much knowledge of the ocean and regularly communicate their desire to become scientists. This leaves us, the museum’s public-oriented volunteers and docents, with a very positive feeling about our collective future. For us, as NMNH’s communicators to the ocean-interested public, being able to share personally what the Okeanos vessel and its crew are like will translate into enhanced experiences for our museum’s visitors and add to our ability to answer their questions.

The Okeanos’ Deep Discoverer ROV can dive to depths of 6,000 meters. The ROV’s data feed is communicated to scientists to enable telepresence.

Finally, wonderful field trips make volunteering at the NMNH such a rewarding experience, bringing us close to the behind-the-scenes world of this prestigious research museum, and interacting with scientists who are at the forefront of research is a unique educational opportunity. We look forward to more wonderful field trips – hats off to Trish for organizing this experience and researchers like our own IZ scientists for keeping ocean science and conservation efforts going full-speed ahead!

Watch the Okeanos video feed live! Learn more about the Okeanos and its missions here.

By Deirdre Holder and Mahesh Lavannis

A First Time Questing for Worms of the Deep Sea

I have just returned from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s Northern Expedition to Axial Seamount on Juan de Fuca Ridge. This expedition was broken into two legs with two different research objectives. The goal of the first portion of the expedition was to study deep-sea chemistry and the purpose of the second leg was to study the seafloor lava flows. I was fortunate to participate on the second portion in order to collect and photograph acorn worms of the family Torquaratoridae and swimming acrocirrid polychaetes for Dr. Karen Osborn.

This was my first time on a deep-sea research trip and my first time visiting a mid-ocean ridge. We left out of Newport, OR on MBARI’s research vessel the Western Flyer that is home to the ROV Doc Ricketts. It took a day and a half to steam to the location of our first dive. Thankfully we had that time to set-up equipment and more importantly adjust to the motion of the boat! The Pacific Northwest can get pretty windy, but we were very lucky in regards to weather and it didn’t get too bad out there. While I have spent countless hours reading about and watching video of the deep-sea, there is nothing that compares to experiencing an ROV dive in real life. Watching Doc Ricketts lower through the “moon pool” for the first time I fully realized that I was about to witness a part of the world that few have had the opportunity to experience.

ROV Doc Ricketts lowering through the “moon pool.” Photo credit Cheryl Gansecki, 2014.

 

The ROV room has about 30 monitors and television screens in it. The four main screens display a live feed from the main HD camera on the ROV. The rest of the screens show information regarding the R/V location, the GIS information of the ROV and the R/V, the live feed from the camera on the bottom of the ROV and much more. Operating a deep-sea dive requires teamwork and dedication from everyone. The pilots are in constant communication with the captain of the vessel. On top of that, they also are communicating with the lead scientists as to where they would like the next sample collected and the plans for the dive.

ROV pilot (left) and chief scientist Dave Clague (right) collecting a push core sample of sediment on top of a lava flow that will be used to give the minimum eruption date of the lava flow below. Photo credit Jessica Whelpley, 2014.

There are two chairs for the ROV pilots in the front row and another chair where the lead scientist sits to control the camera on the ROV and to narrate the dive. The back of the room has four large chairs from an old airplane for the rest of the scientists to observe the dive from. There is a video monitoring station where screen grabs and notes are taken of each sample collected, of interesting geological structures and of animals observed. There is also a GIS station where a member of the research team records dive information so that there is a trail of “bread crumbs” that can be referenced after the dive is over and data analysis begins. Finally, there is the notes station where a researcher records similar information as the previous two stations. It may seem like a lot of repetitive work, however, after 8 days of 12-hour dives, it all starts to blend together so it is good to have as many records as possible. 

Can 1 and Can 2 collected from Axial seamount >1500 m deep. Photo credit: 2014 Jessica Whelpley.

My purpose on the boat was to collect biological specimens, however, I also had the opportunity to help out the geologists on board (and learn a bit about rocks!). When I wasn’t working at the GIS or notes station, I was watching the live feed for enteropneusts, polychaetes, and for any other interesting organisms.

Enteropneusts, commonly known as acorn worms, are closer relatives to vertebrates, (that’s us!), than one would think. Despite their gelatinous appearance they have three of the five anatomical characteristics that define the phylum chordate: a dorsal hollow nerve cord, notochord and pharyngeal gill pores. Previously, Enteropneusta consisted of three families and were thought to only inhabit the benthic substrate. In 2005 a fourth family, the Torquaratoridae was described. This family of enteropneusts live slightly off of the sea floor and some (maybe all of them) are capable of floating in the water column from one benthic foraging site to the next (Osborn et al. 2012).  Enteropneusts found at Axial Seamount are primarily translucent with light pigmentation to their neck or intestinal region. They blend in with their surroundings very well and often the best way to see them is by the fecal trail left behind.

In situ frame grab of torquaratoid enteropneust on lava pillow prior to collection. Photo credit: 2014 MBARI Doc Ricketts.

Several new species of enteropneusts have been seen on previous MBARI expeditions in the Axial area. Since their discovery, many have been recorded on video but few specimens have been collected for morphological and molecular study. They are very delicate organisms and often disintegrate during collection.

The acrocirrid polychaetes are more obvious to see but they swim fairly quickly so it is easy to lose them. Collecting deep-sea animals requires a lot of skill and dexterity and it is really amazing to watch the pilots work. For delicate organisms, the pilots use a suction sampler (similar to a vacuum) to collect them. After the collected animals make their long ascent to the surface, they are quickly removed from the ROV and put in the cold room. The suction sampler jars are carefully checked for symbiotic or parasitic organisms and then animal is gently transferred to a smaller container to be photographed. Finally, a tissue sample was taken for genetic analysis and the specimen was fixed for morphological study.

In situ frame grab of acrocirid polychaete on lava pillow prior to collection. Photo credit: 2014 MBARI Doc Ricketts.

 

This research trip was the best experience I have ever had. I learned more than I could have hoped for, met truly amazing people and got to see the deep-sea firsthand. I am so thankful to Dr. Osborn for giving me this opportunity and to the team of scientists and the crew on board the Western Flyer. It was such a pleasure to work with everyone and I hope to have an opportunity to do this kind of work again in the future.

In lab photograph of polynoid polychaete (scaleworm) with an extruded proboscis collect with ROV Doc Ricketts. Photo credit: 2014 Jessica Whelpley.

 

By Jessica Whelpley, independent contractor working on sorting and cataloguing the Museum's hydrothermal vent collection while applying to grad schools where she will hopefully work on some topic of deep sea conservation.

Road Trip! Jelly Hunting in North Carolina

 

6-year old's rendition of our target species: Chiropsalmus quadrumanus.

Earlier this summer, our family was bounding down the Eastern corridor on I-95 and talking about jellies, specifically one jellyfish that goes by a rather unwieldy name: Chiropsalmus quadrumanus. Eight syllables in all, but nicely balanced by the twin -us endings. The second part of the name means "four hands" and so this is sometimes called the four-handed box jellyfish. [Editorial note: manus means hand in Latin, which is why this word in not typically used in the way it was presented in the No Bones piece on the new unusual animal Dendrogramma.]

We were on our way to North Carolina in search of this one jelly for a variety of reasons. First, it is a box jellyfish (in the class Cubozoa) and those are all amazing, with their vision-capable eyes (SEE BELOW) and often potent venoms, and therefore worthy of study. As we discussed these animals, our 6-year old busied herself in sketching one out of her imagination (RIGHT). No boxing gloves as our older child had famously sketched several years earlier on a whiteboard during a museum happy hour, but we found this depiction pretty entertaining nonetheless. It has a rather angry look to it, easily explained by our daughter's trepidations about getting into the water with these animals. She didn't want to get stung, which was a sound conviction even though this species does not appear to be particularly dangerous. 

Original depiction of Chiropsalmus quadrumanus by Müller, 1859, from Santa Catarina State, Brazil.

One of our questions, a pretty basic one, was whether this jellyfish found in the United States, which had originally been named and described based on collections from Brazil, is actually a separate species. The species was described more than 150 years ago from Santa Catarina State in Brazil, more than 7,000 kilometers (4,000+ miles) away from our destination in North Carolina. Not long after its original discovery (LEFT), specimens from North America (also LEFT, but below) matching the original description were encountered and the species was presumed to range from Cape Hatteras in North Carolina all the way southward through the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean to southern Brazil. 

As far as we know, there are no readily apparent morphological differences among the individuals collected from along that 7,000+ km coastline stretching up the Atlantic. So, what makes us even question whether the North Carolina animals belong to a different, as yet previously unrecognized, species? Hah! That's a trick question. As scientists we question everything and the names that people use to call species can always be viewed as a hypothesis, an idea that can be tested. In addition, we had some evidence that made us question the validity of this hypothesis. A few years ago, a colleague (Bastian Bentlage) had obtained some samples of Chiropsalmus from North Carolina and when we examined genetic sequence from these animals and compared them to data derived from Brazilian specimens, we discovered that they were quite distinct. On their face, these data showing distinct genetic lineages from such disparate geographic localities contradict the hypothesis that there is only one species ranging from North Carolina to Brazil. 

The simple goal of this trip was to collect individuals and document them in a variety of ways. High quality pictures to document the animal in its true form and color is always an aim, but we also brought a number of other preservation materials that will allow this team and collaborators to investigate in different ways. We brought a relaxant to so that we could fix the animals' tissues in formalin, which preserves their form for long term storage in a museum. In addition, we planned to preserve tentacles in citrate, so that they could be used for venom studies. We had a super chilled thermos, known as a dry shipper, which had earlier been cooled to -300 degrees with liquid nitrogen, so that we could flashfreeze entire individuals for whole genomic DNA sequencing. The flashfreezing prevents DNA degradation so that large pieces of DNA, or even entire nuclei, can be extracted.

<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;" data-mce-style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Chiropsalmus from North Carolina, drawn by Mayer in 1910.</span>

Our most important goal was to collect adult animals. Specifically, we sought adults so that we could isolate live eggs and sperm in order to raise them in our new Invertebrate Zoology aquarium room (there will be a forthcoming pience on No Bones about that!). Raising animals in the lab would allow us to share them with the public through an outreach program that we are collectively developing for the Q?rius Education Center.  

So, how did we do in achieving all of these aims?

With field research, it is always difficult to predict the outcomes and this adventure was no different. In this entire endeavor, we were aided by an important partner, Jo O’Keefe. Jo lives in the area and her passion for natural history is palpable. She runs an extensive website about marine life at Sunset Beach, North Carolina and has been in contact with us for years about organisms that wash up on the beach.  She was the host for our group, which not only included our family but also an intern, a volunteer (accompanied by significant other), a graduate student (with family) and a postdoc. Jo helped to arrange access to collection sites and a kayak. She even arranged a greeting from the Mayor of Sunset Beach, Mayor Watts, who drove us to our primary collection site when we first arrived! 

 

Allen Collins with plankton net, Sunset Beach, North Carolina.

Within the first 10 minutes of deploying a plankton net into the strong current, we caught a single young target box jelly. We were off to a fantastic start in our jelly hunt. We would soon learn that it was probably luck and not that there was a high abundance of these guys swimming in the water, but at the moment we were ecstatic!  Consecutive attempts brought up other jellies, but no Chiropsalmus. So off to Jo’s we went, where a make-shift processing lab was set up in her garage.  Hours of photographing the swimming animal, then preservation and that concluded that first day’s work. The rest of the crew would arrive the next day and we would spend two days getting all the jellies we needed to fulfill our aims. 

Photo setup at Jo O'Keefe's place.

 

The one and only specimen of Chiropsalmus that we were able to collect. About 1 cm across.

Say Cheese! Another view of the single specimen of Chiropsalmus collected, with insets highlighting two of the four remarkable sensory structures of box jellyfish. These rhopalia contain a statocyst to sense orientation (tan to orange), two image forming eyes with lenses, two pit eyes (only one visible), and two slit eyes (only one visible). Each rhopalium dangles from a flexible muscular stalk within a cavity that opens to the outside of the jellyfish. The inside of the cavity has a "window" of extra clear tissue, through which the jellyfish can observe its mouth and stomach.

Over the course of two other days, we found lots of individuals washed up on shore, which we preserved for venom studies.  Night time attempts, and various other collecting endeavors timed with incoming and outgoing tides landed us a couple sightings of live animals, but no more catches. After a promising start, we went home with a bit of disappointment, with just a single juvenile specimen in hand. Clearly it was not the most successful collecting trip. On the other hand, a number of good things were achieved. Personally, it was a great time for the family to be together. In addition, we were able to share the adventure of fieldwork as a team of educators and scientists at various career stages. As a diverse team of people interested in natural history, we explored a wonderful locality conversing on topcis ranging from the biology of jellyfish to the merits of banana pudding. 

Fueling up for some nighttime collecting.

Preparing for samples that we never caught

Searching the water with lights

 

Searching in the dark.

 

by Jen Collins (NMNH Ocean Educator) and Allen G. Collins (NOAA's Systematics Lab and NMNH-IZ)

This trip was supported by an Education Minigrant from NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Traveling Near and Far Just to Talk about Crustaceans

I’ve just returned from the 8^th International Crustacean Congress held in Frankfurt, Germany. This is a fantastic meeting where crustacean biologists from at least 15 countries came together and discuss their crustacean-based research and often meet their collaborators in person for the first time. Indeed, I met several people with whom I had only ever known through email or who I haven’t seen for many years.

Crustacean biology is a diverse and vibrant field with active research on topics such as taxonomy, physiology, developmental biology, endocrinology, etc. As a trained taxonomist, I often forget just how much research goes on beyond naming and describing species. In fact, I often forget just how diverse crustaceans really are because I spend most of my time thinking about spider crabs. This was a nice reminder that crustacean biology is diverse and on the forefront of genomic and physiological research.

This year, the meeting was hosted by Dr. Michael Türkay from the Senckenberg Museum in Frankfurt, Germany. The meeting consisted of 6 days of oral presentations with 5 keynote addresses. As with most meetings, there was a poster session. This is often the way researchers who cannot attend the meeting keep colleagues updated about their work. All of the sessions were well-attended and I know I learned a lot about crustaceans that I never knew before. The highlight for me was a presentation that utilized 3D computer renderings and 3D printed models to investigate specialized appendages of some copepods.

3D Printed Model of a Copepod.

Additionally there were special organized symposia where related research topics were presented. I took part in a symposium about DNA barcode identification of decapods (crabs, shrimps, & lobsters). This symposium included some really cool research, including one study that used DNA barcodes to help identify cryptic species of fiddler crabs in South-East Asia. My presentation focused on a biodiversity survey from Bali, Indonesia made as part of the Indonesian Biodiversity Research Center summer course. People were very keen to know how they too could help us collect decapods from Bali.  

Spider Crab Researchers at the 8th International Crustacean Congress.

Frankfurt seems like a long way to go to talk about crustaceans. While it is true that getting to Germany can be a long journey, international meetings among researchers are an integral part of scientific research because the meetings foster a sense of community and collaboration. These meetings offer great opportunity for students to meet senior researchers who may become their future advisors and collaborators. For myself, attending this meeting meant a chance to re-connect with colleagues and collaborators and their new students.

by Amanda Windsor