Ancient underwater volcano off Canada still active, teeming with life: ScienceAlert

A submerged volcano spews hot liquid deep in the sea off Canada’s Pacific coast, and thousands of eggs look like ravioli on its top.

The crew of the 2023 Pacific Northeast Deep Sea Expedition A.J Captivating closing video From their once-in-a-lifetime scientific expedition to an underwater volcano believed to be extinct.

The video is said to contain the first ever live footage of a Pacific white skate (Bathiraja spinocissima) laying an egg. In addition, there is a rare and wonderful octopus nursery, which has an octopus protecting its babies from king crabs.

“Our voyage was unprecedented,” said marine biologist Cherisse Du Preez of Fisheries and Oceans Canada and her team. in the video. “Our discoveries and our personal encounters with deep-sea animals have left us speechless.”

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Mothers rock, even in depth pic.twitter.com/FLIS2HTk8C

– Dr. Cherisse Du Preez 🪸🐙 (@CherisseDuPreez) July 6, 2023

Deep Sea is located in British Columbia (BC) Home to an incredibly rare concentration of three remarkable ecosystems – seamounts, hydrothermal vents, and Cold leaks – because of the area’s unusually small, active, and close-to-shore tectonic plates.

Life in the Three Deep Sea Biodiversities of British Columbia points of attraction It was investigated by a scientific expedition for the first time at depths of up to 3,200 meters (10,500 ft), resulting in the discovery and documentation of “unprecedented behaviour“.

The main reason for the expedition was Support conservation decisions to Proposed Marine Protected Area dubbed area Tang.ɢ̲wan · ḥačxʷiqak · Tsig̱is. The name is a combination of words from the various indigenous peoples who will oversee the MPA in cooperation with the Canadian government:

• Tang.ɢwan (phonetic spelling: Tung – Gwun, where G is a supravocal stop) is a Haida word meaning “ocean depths”
• ḥačxwiqak (phonetic spelling: huch/khwi/kuk) is a Nuu-chah-nulth word and a Pacheedaht word for “the deepest part of the ocean”
• Tsig̱is (phonetic spelled: tsee-geese) is a Quatsino word for “beast of the depths”

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The team expected cold water near the seamount, which rises 1,100 meters (3,600 feet) above the sea floor, but to their surprise, it was gushing warm water and covered in corals.

The heat and minerals in the liquid mean marine producers can thrive, creating a local food web that can support a variety of organisms in the cold, light-free ocean depths.

Even more surprising to the scientists was the discovery of a Pacific white skate nesting on top, 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile) below the surface.

“We were also amazed to discover evidence of a hydrothermal vent on the seamount providing warmer waters to the depths,” said the team. He said“likely to aid in the successful conception of skating eggs.”

One of the deepest types of snowboardingAnd B. spinosissimIt is found at depths between 800 and 2,906 meters (2,600 and 9,500 ft). Females can reach 2 meters in length, and the type of their large oblong eggs look like ravioli.

The seamount toboggan nursery was covered with 0.5m long large eggs, Du Preez said live scienceIt would probably be Sacha Barry million of them.

B. spinosissimwere cases of developing eggs Scientists saw it in 2018 near hydrothermal vents Galapagos Marine Reservesuggests that B. spinosissim Mothers have taken advantage of the warm temperatures to incubate their eggs naturally, which can speed up the arrival of their babies.

You really can’t blame the skates for wanting to meet their kids sooner – some types of deep sea skates have Incubation periods are up to 3.5 years.

The egg-covered seamount is not currently protected and may be at risk from fishing activities, so researchers will keep an eye on this.

The ocean is an incredible place, and as always, the underwater ecosystems and the unusual creatures that harbor them continue to capture our attention.