Эрдэмтэд Баруун Австралийн Нингалуу хавцлын орчмоос урьд өмнө бүртгэгдсэн хамгийн урт амьтан байж болзошгүй сифонофорыг олж илрүүлжээ.
Western Australian Museum-ийн ахлах эрдэмтэн доктор Нерида Уилсон тэргүүтэй судлаачид Schmidt Ocean Institute-ийн Falkor судалгааны хөлөг онгоцон дээр нэг сарын хугацаатай экспедицийг амжилттай зохион байгууллаа. Curtin University, Geoscience Australia болон Scripps Institution of Oceanography-ийн мэргэжилтнүүд хамтран “SuBastian” нэртэй шумбагч роботын тусламжтайгаар далайн гүнд 20 удаагийн судалгаа хийжээ. Энэхүү ажиллагаа нь 4,500 метр хүртэлх гүнд 181 цагийн турш үргэлжилж, өмнө нь хэзээ ч хүн хараагүй далайн гүний хавцал болон шүрэн хадны экосистемийг судалсан байна.
Судалгааны багийнхны хамгийн онцлох ололт нь 50 орчим метр (150 фут) урттай сифонофор байв. Сифонофор нь олон мянган жижиг биетүүд буюу зооидүүд нэгдэн, нэгэн цул болж ажилладаг колони амьтан юм. Тэд мөн Австралийн усанд анх удаа томоохон хэмжээний аварга гидройд, шилэн хөвөнгийн бүлгэмдлүүдийг олж илрүүлсний зэрэгцээ биолюминесцент наймаалж, урт сүүлт далайн өргөст хэмх зэрэг 30 орчим шинэ төрөл зүйлийг бүртгэжээ.
Доктор Лиза Киркендэйл эдгээр олдворууд нь далайн гүний олон зүйлийн тархац болон амьдрах орчныг шинээр тодорхойлж буйг онцлов. Цуглуулсан дээжүүд нь цаашид Western Australian Museum-д байрших бөгөөд шинжлэх ухааны хувьд үнэ цэнэтэй мэдээллийн сан бүрдүүлэх юм. Энэхүү экспедиц нь далайн гүний экосистемийг хамгаалах, экологийн ДНХ-ийн шинжилгээний аргачлалыг боловсронгуй болгоход чухал хувь нэмэр оруулна гэж судлаачид үзэж байна.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
An estimated 150-foot siphonophore, seemingly the longest animal ever recorded, was found during a month-long expedition in the submarine canyons near Ningaloo, Western Australia. The team also reported up to 30 new underwater species, some of them among the deepest fish and marine invertebrates ever recorded for the state.
The expedition ran aboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor and was led by Chief Scientist Dr. Nerida Wilson of the Western Australian Museum. Researchers from Curtin University, Geoscience Australia and Scripps Institution of Oceanography joined the effort in the Ningaloo Canyons of the Indian Ocean.
The trip is one piece of the institute’s year-long initiative in Australia and the Pacific, a series of science and engineering expeditions with teams from around the world. With an underwater robot, scientists could explore deep sea canyons and coral reefs around Australia that had never been seen before.
A Colony the Length of a Giant
The headline find is a siphonophore, a floating colony of tiny individual zooids. These zooids clone themselves thousands of times into specialized bodies, which string together and work as a team. The result is a gelatinous string that, in this case, stretched an estimated 150 feet.
The team also found the largest specimen of the giant siphonophore Apolemia ever recorded, and video of it was posted on Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Twitter account. Wilson said:
“We suspected these deep sea areas would be diverse but we have been blown away by the significance of what we have seen.”
What The ROV Brought Back?
The numbers behind the discoveries are sizeable. Using the ROV SuBastian, the scientists completed 20 dives at depths of up to 4,500 meters, adding up to 181 hours of exploration. Along the way they collected the first giant hydroids in Australia and found large communities of glass sponges in Cape Range Canyon.
They also observed several animals in Western Australia for the first time: the bioluminescent Taning’s octopus squid, the long-tailed sea cucumber, and a number of molluscs, barnacles and squat lobsters.
Some of the species collected will be exhibited at the Western Australian Museum. Dr. Lisa Kirkendale, head of aquatic zoology at the museum and co-principal investigator, put the significance this way:
“These specimens represent so many extensions in depth and range records for so many species, and will form an important new part of WA Museum collections.”
A Permanent Record for the Canyons
Falkor is owned and operated by Schmidt Ocean Institute, a philanthropic non-profit established by Eric and Wendy Schmidt in 2009. According to the institute, it is the only year-round seagoing philanthropic research vessel in the world. Collection data for these specimens will be released too.
The completed science lets the team formally describe many of the new species. It will also help develop ROV methods for monitoring Marine Parks in Australia and screen deep water samples for environmental DNA in the Indian Ocean. Dr. James Findlay, director of Australia’s National Parks, who has been closely following the expedition, said:
“Ongoing scientific exploration is vital to the effective management of our marine parks, and we are committed to partnering with other agencies to record and monitor these precious places.”
Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Ocean Institute, framed the wider stakes of the expedition, noting that our planet is deeply interconnected and that what happens in the deep sea affects life on land, and vice versa.
“There is so much we don’t know about the deep sea, and there are countless species never before seen,” she said, adding that “the Ningaloo Canyons are just one of many vast underwater wonders we are about to discover that can help us better understand our planet.”
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