What Just Happened: Windows to the Deep 2018

What Just Happened: Windows to the Deep 2018

This video, collected at ~500 meters depth during Dive 16 of the Windows to the Deep 2018 expedition on June 30, 2018, highlights a benthic fish (Atlantic Midshipman, Porichthys plectrodon) dwelling in a burrow, snatching a large midwater fish (barracudina in the family Paralepididae) with quill worms as onlookers. The snail was an innocent (and unfortunate) bystander to the whole thing as well.

This remarkable video footage gives us the rare opportunity to document a predation event in the deep sea, while highlighting the trophic links between animals that live in the water column with those that live on the seafloor.

More information about the video is available here: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1806/logs/july1/july1.html

Video courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Windows to the Deep 2018.

Learn more about the expedition here: https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/explorations/ex1806/welcome.html