WEBVTT - Interview Interlude Playlist, Part 1: Diva Amon 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.840 My welcome Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:14.080 I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, welcome to Stuff 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.239 to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:18.520 I'm Joe McCormick, and today we've got to treat for you. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.120 It's a conversation with Dr Diva aim On. That's right. 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:24.279 This is a wonderful chat where we're gonna talk about 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:28.000 about deep sea exploration. What is it like to explore 0:00:28.040 --> 0:00:30.800 the deep ocean from someone who's been there, um, and 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:34.280 then what sorts of organisms and ecosystems are we learning about, 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:36.520 How much do we not know about the deep ocean? 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:38.559 And what are some of the biggest threats facing the 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:42.639 deep ocean. Yeah, so this was a fascinating conversation. Obviously, 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:44.479 if you want a little bit of background, we've done 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:46.680 some episodes about the deep sea in the past. We'll 0:00:46.680 --> 0:00:48.600 link to a few of those on the landing page 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:50.480 for this episode. I think we've done quite a few. 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.080 Within just the past six months or so, we've had 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.440 deep sea on the brain. Yeah. But the short version 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.000 is that the the ocean is deep. Uh. Is it 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:01.120 so deep that the pres sure down there is in 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.720 kins the darkness is absolute and yet even in this 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.480 cold and it's cold and even but even in these uh, 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.040 this environment that is so hostile to human life, uh, 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.880 there is a great abundance of marine life to be 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:20.720 found there and gorgeously strange and diverse habitats and ecosystems arise. 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.759 That's right. So without further ado, let's jump into the interview. Alright, Diva, 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:27.839 thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.760 our listeners a little bit about yourself? So my name 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.520 is Dr Diva Ahman. I'm a deep se biologist who's 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.560 originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, but I'm 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:41.320 currently based at the Natural History Museum in London, in England. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.039 And what do you do there? Um, Well, it really 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.080 varies day to day, um quite a lot. So probably 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.040 the best part of my job is actually going out 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.360 to see on what we call research cruises. Then nothing 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:59.280 like the cruises that most people think about. Um, they 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.760 don't involve you know, elderly individuals or all you can 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.800 eat buffase definitely not um. And yeah, that most of 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:11.040 all I do centers around that field work, which can 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:14.200 be for about you know, one to three months of 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.520 the year, um. Usually broken up into four to five 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:22.080 week periods, and when we're on that ship, we basically 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.440 explore parts of the deep sea that most people haven't 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.080 ever been to, that sometimes no one has ever been to, 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:33.400 and we collect samples of um animals, of the geology, 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:35.960 the rocks, and so on, water samples, and that allows 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.960 us to get a better understanding for that area of 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:42.320 the ocean. And then once the next the research crew 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:46.160 story is done, we bring everything back to the lab 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.480 and there we work on those samples for usually the 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:52.240 remainder of the year, and that involves doing, depending on 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:56.320 what questions we're asking, a variety of analysis. And then 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.840 I also do a lot of science communication because I 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:02.440 think it's super fun and super important and um that's 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.400 not just to the public, but also to policymakers to 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.720 try and make sure our oceans and managed in a 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:13.280 more a man in a more um sustainable and effective way. Yeah, 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:16.120 it's great. I love what I do. Oh, it sounds amazing. 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:19.560 So you talked about how science communication is a part 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.320 of your job. If you could isolate, you know, like 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:26.639 one thing that you really wish everyone could understand about 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.880 the oceans or the deep sea that not enough people 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:35.240 have grasped. But what do you think that messages Oh wow, UM, 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:39.240 perhaps the let me think about this one. Didn't mean 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:41.240 to put your on spots. No, no, no, it's great, 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:45.119 it's a great question. UM. I think it would probably 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:49.560 be two things. The unknown nature. You know, most people 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:53.360 never even think about the deepotion. It's completely out of sight, 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.120 out of mind, and that unfortunately has a lot of 0:03:57.160 --> 0:04:02.880 implications for UM it's management and how we treat it. UM. 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:05.360 And while it may seem very out of sight and 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:09.360 out of mind, it actually is not out of our grasp. UM. 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.880 On every research cruise that we go on, we see 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.320 our impacts in the deep sea. And so it would 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:17.559 probably be to you know, have a home that even 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:21.039 though it's this place that most people never go to, 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.000 that most people will never get the opportunity to experience, 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.680 you know, we're still having a very very real impact 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:31.159 in this place that also is really really important to 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.440 us being here on the planet. And do changes in 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:36.840 the deep ocean and the deep sea, do we see 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:40.719 those having consequences that cascade out to you know, parts 0:04:40.720 --> 0:04:45.880 of ecology in the world that we do interact with more. Yeah. Absolutely, So. Again, 0:04:45.960 --> 0:04:48.760 not a lot of people realize that, you know, everything 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.120 is connected, and the deep otion is at the largest 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:56.080 ecosystem on the planet. You know, it occupies about sixty 0:04:56.680 --> 0:05:00.600 of the planet's surface and provides over nineties ex percent 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.359 of all the habitable space on Earth. And so, I 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:08.240 mean this is really a huge area. And because of 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:11.920 that huge size, it has a really really big responsibility. 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:16.000 It plays a role in these global processes that really 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:22.320 regulate our planets, so things like regulating temperature. It absorbs 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.920 the majority I think it's absorbed about nine six percent 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.880 of heat from our atmosphere so far, as well as 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.640 a twentysomething percent I don't know the exact figure offhand 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.479 of carbon dioxide emissions, and so, you know, regulating the 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.960 world's climate, which we all know is getting more and 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:42.240 more important. It also cycles nutrients. It also detoxifies the 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.440 shallow parts of our planet um and it provides us 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.800 with you know, a range of resources which a lot 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.840 of people don't actually realize as well, things like food, 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.520 things like oil and gas in the future, potentially medicine, 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.599 and potentially metals. And there is of course this like 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:01.080 really inherent cultural value as well. You know, we see 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.240 the deep ocean and so many movies and so many books, 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.080 and that that ability to inspire is really something that 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:10.600 we shouldn't underestimate at all. So can you tell us 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.640 just a little bit about growing up in the Caribbean 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.920 and how you know how that it may have inspired 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:19.839 your interest in marine biology, but then also how you 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:24.400 ended up focusing on the deep sure without trying or 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:27.640 probably sound quite cheesy. Um. So I grew up in 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:30.200 the Caribbean, on the island, on the islands of Trinan, Tobago, 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:35.480 and I mean about thirty years ago. There wasn't that 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.920 much to do the back then, and so it meant 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.760 that I spent a lot of time outside um in 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.479 the garden, on the beach, in the ocean, and it 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:49.599 just gradually led to this real passion um for the 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.480 ocean and for the things that lived there. And there 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:53.960 were a lot of things that I really didn't understand 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.320 or didn't know about the sea and what lived in it, 0:06:56.400 --> 0:07:00.240 and that really sort of propelled me to decide to 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.719 study University UM marine science. And funnily enough, I actually 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:09.520 wanted to do medicine UM and my parents were like, no, no, no, Um, 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.080 why don't you do something that you think you you know, 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:16.640 really will absolutely love, which again I'm very very grateful 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:20.280 for UM. And yeah, I decided to go and study 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:25.080 marine biology, and as I said, most people don't think 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:26.840 about the deep sea. When I went to do my 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:31.040 undergraduate degree, I knew very little apart from perhaps like 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:33.440 one or two animal books where there were pictures of 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.080 hatchet fish and you know, giant squid and other things. 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.280 But it just really wasn't It just didn't play a 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:44.400 big rule despite having grown up by the ocean and UM, 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.560 it wasn't until my final year really that everything sort 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:51.280 of fell into place where I took a deep sea 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:57.200 biology course and the lecturer was saying that, you know, 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:03.720 over of our deep ocean hasn't yet been explored, and 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:06.440 by explored, I mean visualized, like it hasn't been seen 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:08.640 with human eyes, or it hasn't been seen with a 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:12.400 camera that takes photos or images. And that just is 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:17.240 such a staggering figure considering we're talking about our own planet. 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:22.160 It really hit home that, you know, you to be 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.080 to be working in deep sea science, you get the 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:29.520 opportunity to be a real life explorer. And I think 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:33.320 is children everybody goes through a period of wanting to 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:36.120 do that, And yes, as I said earlier, I just 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.040 absolutely love what I do, and that's when I decided, hey, 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:41.319 I'm going to give us a shot, and since then 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.480 no regrets. Do you think you could sort of place 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:47.920 our current understanding of deep sea ecosystems and a little 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.080 bit of historical context like where do we come from 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:55.160 and where are we today in our understanding of these ecosystems? 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:59.360 So while it may sound abysmal, I mean the deepotion 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:03.000 never having been explored, um, it is better than it's 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:07.360 ever been. Right, our knowledge has increased to a point 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:11.839 in history, UM where we are able to make better 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:16.120 decisions than we ever have been. But it's still really 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:18.160 this sort of drop in the bucket, you know. True 0:09:18.200 --> 0:09:21.240 deep seat exploration started I think in the sort of 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.440 eighteen hundreds UM. One of the biggest, one of the 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.800 most important expeditions, UM was the Challenger expedition, and that 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:32.640 went around the world really making the first concertive effort 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:35.480 to sample as much as they could in the deep sea. 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:37.160 But of course back then it was mostly you know, 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.560 a troll you throw off the back of the boat 0:09:39.640 --> 0:09:42.840 and just sort of drag up whatever you can, whereas 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:47.440 now where the equipment that's being used is so high 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:51.040 tech and as a result expensive, which of course is 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.320 a very very big limitation, but it means that, yes, 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.320 I said, our knowledge is increasing. We're able to explore 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.000 these places that no one has ever been an incredible 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:06.480 really find detail and answer questions which have plagued us 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:12.280 for centuries um And unfortunately, still while that is great 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.520 and exciting, we still have a huge way to go 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:18.800 in order to be able to truly, you know, understand 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:21.920 our planet as best we can. Now. When when one 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:27.240 goes to your website diva aman dot com, it's done. 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.000 You know, you get a snapshot of all these different 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:35.280 expeditions that you've been a part of. But can you 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.400 explain to our listeners, like what what are the tools 0:10:38.720 --> 0:10:44.160 of exploration that are generally involved in one of these expeditions? Yeah? So, 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.280 I mean the first one is you need a ship. 0:10:47.720 --> 0:10:52.080 Not about a ship because usually you're going pretty far 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.120 away from land, and you're going out there for weeks 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:58.320 and you're never going to see a lot of time, 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.640 you never see land during that read um, and so 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.480 means your ship has to have everything you could possibly 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:07.360 need on it, you know, all the food provisions, that 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.960 you would need for that time, people to cook it, 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.079 people to drive, people to operate all the equipment science 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:17.599 and um, yeah, usually it's about fifty people or so 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:23.280 on one of these ships, and that's sort of the platform, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.400 right that then everything else operates off of. And so now, yes, 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:31.000 we still use those more rudimentary pieces of equipment like 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:34.040 trolls which you throw off back steps, see what it gets. 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:36.880 It's not necessarily the best piece of equipment to use. 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:41.880 But but now there's also you know, other things like grabs. 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:45.160 You can lower down pieces of equipment like grabs and 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:49.000 cares that bring up you know, perfectly preserved areas of 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.920 a sleep full like one M by one m squared, 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:57.240 so that you can really get some good quantitative um numbers. 0:11:57.480 --> 0:11:59.680 But then, I mean, but then you've got the really 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.160 excit eating equipment. And I know a lot of deep 0:12:02.160 --> 0:12:05.080 se scientists thing to this will will curse me for 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.760 saying that. But I mean the things that get me 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:11.800 excited because I work on usually the really big animals, 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:14.240 animals you can see in images and animals you can 0:12:14.240 --> 0:12:17.240 see in videos. And to do that we tend to 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.959 use what I think is is a lot of the 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:23.800 sexy stuff. So that'll be things like UM remotely operated vehicles, 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:27.319 which can be about the size of a car, and 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:31.280 they're basically our eyes and our ears on the sea floor, 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:34.840 on our hands on the sea floor. They are attached 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.720 to the ship by a tether and they are able 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.959 to go down I think the deepest currently for an 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.640 RV is six I'm not sure what other is in 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:48.440 feet or miles and um and they go down there 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.560 with lights, with baskets to put samples, with cameras with 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.560 a range of sensors on them, and they essentially do 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:58.560 our dirty work for us, because we can't actually just 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.600 you know, scuba dive down there given the extreme conditions. 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.880 But then there are also things like autonomous underwater vehicles 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.560 or a u v s, which are not attached to 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:12.480 the ship. They can be programmed to, for instance, run 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:16.479 a grid of UM imaging, so it takes take snapshots 0:13:16.480 --> 0:13:19.680 in a really detailed grid, and they'll go off and 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:21.520 do it and then when they finished, they'll pop back 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:23.199 to the surface and we go by and we pick 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.040 them up, and they can do that for days, if 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.319 not weak sometimes. So again the technology is just has 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.600 increased to this incredible level but of course, you know, 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:37.160 the Creme della creme is really the submersibles, and that's 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.400 you know, one of most people's favorites because you actually 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:44.720 get to go down in those um usually they hold 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:50.000 between two and three people and they are very small 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.240 and uncomfortable, but they are your chariot down into this 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:59.680 world that few people get to go to. And yeah, 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:03.439 it's just to completely wild experience. And those also are 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.760 not attached to the ship, and they'll have, like the RVs, 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:10.679 a range of equipment on them, senses, baskets to put samples, 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.800 video cameras and images. But there you get the added 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.240 advantage of having or disadvantage whichever where you want to 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:20.600 look at, of having humans down there to actually you know, 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:26.240 make firsthand observations. I was just thinking about the role 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.280 of visual identification in in the kind of work you do. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:34.160 I mean, what's it. Uh, could you talk a little 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:37.640 bit about what you know, that necessity of looking at 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.400 this strange world and being able to understand what you're 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:45.160 looking at sometimes from maybe poor visual data. Yeah, so 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.320 that's a big thing, and actually that has a lot. 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:50.080 It's a really big issue now because of course our 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:53.360 technology is increasing when leaps and bounds, and it means 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:57.800 that often because of those changes in UM, for instance, 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:01.720 photo resolution, you know, a out of imagery isn't actually 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.280 comparable on a scientific or statistical level anymore. So that 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:11.680 of course has its own problems UM. But with that said, 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.560 you know, it really is the level of equipment now 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:17.760 and that level of imagery is really giving us a 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:23.800 completely new way of looking at these environments. Like right 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.200 now you can do, for instance, three de mosaic ing 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.160 of hydrothermal events so that you can zoom in because 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.520 it's such high resolution and see you know, individuals sent 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:36.280 to me to size animals on this absolutely massive structure 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:42.880 UM and it's just yeah, revolutionizing the way that that 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:48.080 we understand the deepotion. What was the question again, I'm sorry, 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.320 maybe it wasn't a good question. I went off from 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.240 tangent and then I was like, wait, what, Well, actually 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.960 I'm more interested in that you just mentioned being able 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.640 to image hydrothermal vents, and I'm wondering if maybe you 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:01.920 could sort of paint a picture for us of some 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:07.320 of these major types of undersea ecosystems and habitats before 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:08.840 we get onto that. Can I put in one more 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.840 point for the other question. Absolutely, sorry, um so, I 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.360 was gonna say that, you know, while imagery is great 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:22.040 for deep sea biologists if you want to really characterize 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.440 an animal and fully understand, you know, if it's new 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.920 for instance, or or really what it is you unfortunately 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.480 images will only take you so far. It's really important 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.840 that you get a sample. Um you're unable to you know, 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:40.120 identify a new species given a name, go through that 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:44.240 process without having something in hand. And that's because there 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:48.280 are lots of animals that look very similar, um, superficially 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.400 from the outside, but actually you need to have either 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.320 really really fine detail of like how many hairs there 0:16:55.360 --> 0:16:58.760 are on the fourth leg of this crab, for instance, 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:03.000 or that the DNA. They can look identical to us, 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:07.000 but their DNA is actually really really different. So images 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.359 really do only take you so far, and they're just 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:13.480 sort of one piece of that puzzle of understanding the 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:15.639 deep otion. I guess sorry, we could do the other 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:20.640 question now, that's great. Uh So, yeah, we're asking about 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:25.120 hydrothermal vince and other deep sea habitats, like can can 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:27.600 you sort of describe these and talk about the different 0:17:27.680 --> 0:17:30.520 roles these habitats play when most people think of the 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:34.080 deep ocean, they just tend to think of this, you know, abyss, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:40.879 it's dark, it's cold, and freeway on the planet. And 0:17:40.960 --> 0:17:44.880 actually that's really really far from the truth. Just like 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.440 on land, there are a variety of habitats in our 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.600 deep seas. There are mountains, there are planes, there are trenches, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:58.520 there are fields of corals and sponges, there are um, 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.280 even lakes at the bottom of the of the deep ocean. 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.280 I mean, it is just essentially like being on land, 0:18:05.600 --> 0:18:09.200 where you just get a huge range um. And that 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.040 means that you know, with each of those habitats, you 0:18:12.160 --> 0:18:15.560 get a not a completely different but usually a very 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:20.080 different fauna, so different communities live there. Um. And that 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:24.520 leads to the deep ocean having really really high diversity, 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:27.760 which yeah, not a lot of people realize. UM. And 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.280 some of them, I mean, they're all amazing, and so 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:38.439 many of them are so visually stunning. UM. But of 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:42.080 course I guess I have favorite some biased um, and 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:44.480 so those will be thing. Actually, I don't know, they're 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.200 all amazing, they're actual I'll take that back. I don't 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:52.719 have favorites. They're all actually they're all great. But I 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:54.680 mean Some of the ones that sort of jump out 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:58.800 are Brian pools because I mean who knew lakes at 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.480 the bottom of the sea. Hydrothermal vents, which are these 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:09.680 um sort of underwater volcanoes that gush this superheated black 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.240 fluid that looks like thick, thick, thick smoke and usually 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.280 has huge amounts of life living around them. You get 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.280 whale falls. So when a whale dies, yes, sometimes it 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:21.439 washes ashore, but a lot of the time will end 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.879 it down in the deep sea where it will prompt 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:29.240 this feeding bonanza. UM. On these seamounts you tend to 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:34.160 get like essentially the rainforests of the oceans. UM, they 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.240 can have these sponge and coral gardens that act as 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:43.879 trees almost and they provide cons like trees doing rainforests 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:48.439 for a huge variety of animals. And some of these environments, 0:19:48.440 --> 0:19:52.000 you know, the animals are incredibly old. We're now beginning 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.240 to understand in the deep sea. So for instance, there 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:58.840 have been corals and the devotion found to be well 0:19:58.840 --> 0:20:03.239 over four thousand years old, So that's like around the 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:07.080 time the wheel was invented. So there's one, you know, 0:20:07.119 --> 0:20:09.439 there's there's probably more than one, but we know for 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.159 sure there's a species of animal that can live for 0:20:12.240 --> 0:20:15.760 that long. I mean that just blows my mind, right, Um, 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:19.480 and yeah, it's just there's just huge variety and all 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:23.600 of the animals down there are just so weird but 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.720 so wonderful. It's just it's it's just fascinating, you know. 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:30.040 I know, you couldn't pick a favorite habitat. Do you 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:32.560 have personal favorite deep sea animals the ones that just 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.200 light you up the most? I mean, so in terms 0:20:36.240 --> 0:20:39.800 of habitats, definitely, Brian pools are amazing. Brian pools are 0:20:39.880 --> 0:20:44.080 three to eight times It's where basically water seawater that's 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:48.639 three to eight times saltier than the surrounding seawater settles 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:53.840 because of that density and essentially forms a lake on 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:58.760 the sea floor. And interestingly, you get these muscles and 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:03.320 other animals forming like a seashore around that that very 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.600 um salty water that's sitting on the sea floor. So 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.760 that's amazing. Um. Hydrothermal vents are amazing. Well, wheel folds 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:12.760 are amazing. I mean, we cover the habitats already, but 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:15.760 in terms of animals, of gosh, against such a hard question, 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:20.480 A couple that come to mind. Um definitely the hof crab. 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:26.640 I mean, who doesn't love the club. It's a white, hairy, 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:31.480 um blind crab that lives about two and a half 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:36.360 kilometers down off Antarctica in the deep ocean at these 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:41.280 hydrothermal vent environment sees underwater volcanoes. And what they do 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:45.600 is because and hydrothermal vents, that fluid that they gush, 0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:48.919 that gushes out of them, it's really really rich in 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:55.640 chemicals like methane and hydrogen sulfide, and there was environments 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.680 those communities surrounding hydrothermal vents. Well, instead of using light 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.040 because there's no light in the deep sea apart from bioluminescence, um, 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.240 they will use these chemicals as their source of energy 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:13.040 in a process instead of photosynthesis and a process called chemosynthesis. 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:16.120 And that means that you know, you end up with 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:20.280 animals that are just so weird. And instead of having 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.600 plants as the primary producers like we do want land 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:29.680 and shallow waters, we have m bacteria the other primary producers, 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:33.320 and so they'll be these thick backed, white bacterial mats 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.080 growing all over these vents. But what is special about 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.600 the hof crab is that it will actually have those 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:44.159 bacteria growing on its body. So it has that that 0:22:44.320 --> 0:22:49.080 hairy chest, those hairy arms um for the bacteria to 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:51.000 grow on. And so what it will do is it 0:22:51.040 --> 0:22:56.119 will bathe itself in this warm, chemical rich fluid. The 0:22:56.160 --> 0:23:00.959 bacteria will then grow and essentially then it will scrape 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:03.440 all of the bacteria off of its chest and off 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:05.080 of its arms and into its mouth and it's like 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:08.159 having its bomb and its body. I mean that sounds 0:23:08.160 --> 0:23:10.320 our grocery. That sounds great to me, you know, it 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:15.840 just but yeah, they're just they're just the most fabulous 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.640 little animals. And they we now know because of work 0:23:18.720 --> 0:23:23.720 by colleagues that they actually where they live on hydrothermal 0:23:23.760 --> 0:23:28.280 events will be determined by their sex as well as 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:32.239 what reproductive status they're in. So they found that, you know, 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:36.719 the biggest um male hof crabs will move to the 0:23:36.760 --> 0:23:41.400 tops of the chimneys, whereas the females who have eggs 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.040 will move further away from the hottest parts of the 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:48.960 chimney into more lukewarm water. I mean, it's just it's 0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:52.159 just fascinating. But in case you didn't know, they're the 0:23:52.240 --> 0:23:55.080 real name is a Yeti crabs because they look like 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:59.199 they vominable stowman or yet sy like. They've been nicknamed 0:23:59.200 --> 0:24:03.399 the hoff crab um because they because of that hairy 0:24:03.480 --> 0:24:08.320 chest aspect on the expedition, on the cruise, they were 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:11.760 basically someone drew an allergy between them and David Hasselhoff. 0:24:11.920 --> 0:24:17.760 And yeah, and as far as I understand, he quite 0:24:17.840 --> 0:24:23.320 enjoys the idea. So yeah, so it's a quirky one. 0:24:23.359 --> 0:24:26.520 But then I mean there's also um an animal that 0:24:26.560 --> 0:24:29.080 I worked on. While it may not be like visually 0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:32.480