Advances in care and culture of deep-sea species

Our animal care scientists continue to perfect techniques that advance what’s possible in care and culture of the enigmatic deepsea species featured in Into the Deep/En lo Profundo. They’re constantly monitoring, learning, improving, and innovating to ensure the health and well-being of the exhibit’s amazing array of deepsea animals. Many of the animals we’re exhibiting in Into the Deep — the bloody-belly comb jelly, deep-sea siphonophore, and barrel amphipod — are being displayed to the public for the first time ever.

Our team’s ingenuity has led to breakthroughs in raising and displaying such mesmerizing species as chandelier jellies and snow globe jellies, which are all found in the midwater region of the deep sea. These drifters are extremely delicate and require just the right water chemistry and temperature to survive. Innovation in animal care means we were also able to display salmon snailfish and some of the largest Japanese spider crabs in the country.

As unrivaled pioneers and leaders in caring for and culturing deepsea species, our team was the first to raise deep-sea siphonophores, which are strands of individual, jelly-like creatures that function as a single organism and play a huge role in oceanic food webs.

“Each question we ask takes us down paths we didn’t know were in front of us – repeatedly proving that there’s so much more to learn and so many boundaries to put behind us.”

— Megan Olhasso, Curator of Fish & Invertebrates

In future years, we’ll share discoveries we and our colleagues at MBARI make about the deep sea as we continue to increase understanding of the life cycle of deep-sea species and the incredible adaptations that allow them to survive in a dark, cold, and mysterious environment.

Pelagic magic

Through a unique combination of rigorous research and new animal care techniques, the Aquarium and MBARI, our research and technology partner, continue to lead the way in science and deep-sea exploration. Expeditions to this mysterious habitat have led to several amazing and rare discoveries about the lives of deep-sea animals, including the barreleye fish, highfin dragonfish, and several new species of jellies.

Working together, Aquarium and MBARI scientists deploy remotely operated vehicles into the deep, searching for animals both for new understanding and sometimes to bring back to the Aquarium for public display.

Our scientists also journey to Hawaii on blackwater dives, a form of scuba diving that takes place at night in the open ocean. Divers, tethered to a boat by a rope, descend up to 60 feet deep. In this dark and dreamlike setting, they wait for magic to materialize.

Thousands of deep-sea creatures migrate vertically twice a day — once to the ocean surface at night and back down to its depths at dawn. As they emerge from the darkness, our team learns more about deep-sea creatures and sometimes collects animals to exhibit in Into the Deep/En lo Profundo.

We’ll continue these expeditions so we can showcase new animals from this mysterious realm for years to come.