First-Ever Submarine Dive on Vancouver's "Living Fossils": Glass Sponge Reefs

Researchers discover a seafloor oasis made of hundreds of glass sponges.

 

Howe Sound, British Columbia—Through the submersible's acrylic viewport, a large patch of glass sponges looms up from the seafloor of Howe Sound (map), a network of fjords located on Vancouver's doorstep. The sponges glow creamy white and orange under the sub's high-intensity lamps and extend across a 40-foot-high (12.2-meter-high) mound.

This week, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) and Nuytco Research mounted the first submarine expedition to the glass sponge reefs found in Georgia Strait off of Vancouver.

The expedition aims to check on the status of these sponge reefs, which currently have no protection from damage by fishing activities, and to raise awareness of their existence.

The Howe Sound reef—which Aquarius will explore over the course of six dives—was first discovered in 2008, making it the most recently discovered sponge reef in southern British Columbia.
Glass sponges are found across the globe. But only along British Columbia's continental shelf do they grow over the skeletons of their dead ancestors to form massive deepwater reefs. This buildup is thanks to high levels of dissolved silica, which the sponges use to build their glass skeletons, and strong currents of cold water laden with nutrients.

"The sponge communities provide refuge for juvenile fish and they have a large filtering capacity, so they provide an important ecological function," says Bruce Reid, regional manager of Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Vancouver.

READ THE FULL STORY BY ANNE CASSELMAN HERE AT NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

 

Red Pandas At Lincoln Children's Zoo

Twin three-month-old Red Pandas (Ailurus fulgens fulgens) huddle together at the Lincoln Children's Zoo.

Photograph by Joel Sartore

Read about Joel Sartore's Photo Ark Project here at National Geographic

Survival Guide: Orangutan to the Rescue

 

How an Orangutan walked a lost researcher back to camp.

This kind of getting lost doesn’t happen anymore; I would have a GPS with me now. But two decades ago at Camp Leakey, an orangutan research camp on Borneo inside Tanjung Puting, the rain forest was an unknowable place. I was trying to find the maroon leaf monkey. One day, after four hours of following marked trails, I thought I saw one. I risked it and went off the trail. Forty-five minutes later, I was still wandering, no maroon leaf monkey in sight. I assumed the trail had to pick up somewhere near where I was, so I used my compass to make a guess. Another 30 minutes later, I wasn’t panicked, but I was definitely a little nervous. I had a headlamp, so I was somewhat prepared, but darkness was coming on quickly and finding my way back was only going to get more difficult.

There was much to admire off-trail—passing humans hadn’t disturbed these parts of the rain forest yet. At one point I saw a shimmering metallic blue pool in an opening. I moved closer, and it vibrated, and hundreds of butterflies took wing. What I saw in their place was the sea of pig feces that had so interested them moments before.

I picked south on the compass. I figured I’d eventually hit the river, if not a trail first. It paid off. After about 20 minutes I saw an unmarked trail. Seconds later, I heard a rustling. I was thinking it was feral pigs or a small wildcat. I shone my headlamp where I thought the sound was coming from. It was an orangutan. The face was familiar: one of the tribe being rehabilitated at camp. The orangutan and I looked at each other, and she held out her hand to me. Then she led me, hand clasped in hand, to camp. Just like me, she was heading back for the evening.


Source: Agustin Fuentes at National Georgaphic

Related: Audio: Fuentes’ Work With Orangutans in Borneo.

Oldest Evidence of Cooking With Spices Found From 6,000 Years Ago

 

Ancient European hunter-gatherers were using garlic mustard seeds to give their foods a peppery kick as far back as 6,000 years ago. 

Researchers have found evidence for garlic mustard seeds in cooking residues left on ancient pottery shards discovered in what is now Denmark and Germany. The finding, published this week in the journal PLOS One, is the oldest evidence of spices being used for culinary purposes, said study co-author Oliver Craig, an archeologist at the University of York in the UK.

"We think it was mixed with other ingredients in a pot, so it was actually used to deliberately spice other foods," Craig said. Craig and his team found microscopic specks of plant-based silica, known as phytoliths, on fire-scorched pottery shards collected from three campsites in north central Europe that ranged between 5,800 and 6,150 years old.

The team identified the seeds as belonging to the garlic mustard plant, also known as Jack-by-the-hedge. The tiny black seeds from this plant have no nutritional value, but are known for their pungent, peppery taste.

Along with the garlic mustard phytoliths, the team also found remnants of fish and animal fat—probably deer—on the pottery shards, which suggests prehistoric cooks were using the spice to flavor these foods.

Read the full story by Ker Than here at National Geographic

What’s This Mysterious Circle on the Seafloor?

Photograph courtesy Kimiaki Ito

What creates mysterious circles on the seafloor? No, it’s not aliens of the deep—it’s actually pufferfish hoping to snag a mate, a new study says.

Divers first noticed the 6.5-foot-wide (2-meter-wide) circular structures near Japan‘s Amami-Oshima Island about 20 years ago. But no one knew how these so-called mystery circles were constructed—or what was creating them—until now.

The circles, scientists say, are actually nests created by male pufferfish, which spend about ten days carefully constructing and decorating the structures to woo females. What’s more, this industrious pufferfish is thought to be a new species in the Torquigener genus, according to the study, published July 1 in the journal Scientific Reports.

Nesting Instinct

The male fish, which measures less than 5 inches (13 centimeters) long, first uses his body to create peaks and valleys in the sandy bottom around a central circle of smooth sand. He accomplishes this feat by swimming in toward the center of the circle in a straight line and then back around the center in a circular motion. (Watch a pufferfish video.)

Before the female fish arrive to inspect his handiwork, the male forms irregular patterns in the fine sand particles of the central circle. He also decorates the peaks of the outer portion with shell and coral fragments.

When a potential female partner arrives on the scene, the male stirs up the fine sand in the nest’s inner circle. If she deems the nest, and the male who built it, satisfactory, she lays her eggs in the center of the nest and leaves.

The scientists aren’t sure exactly what the females are looking for when they judge a male’s nest. It could be the central patterns made of fine sand, the decorations on the outside, or the nest’s size or symmetry. (Also see “Help Name This Mystery Fish.”)

But they do know that because the nest-making process is so time-consuming, a larger nest could indicate a stronger or more fit male—both desirable traits to females.

Photograph courtesy Kimiaki Ito

Dad Duties

Once the female splits, though, it’s the male who does the parental chores: He remains in the nest until the eggs hatch six days later.

Afterward, the male looks for a nearby spot to start the nest-making process all over again, which is a mystery of its own: Why spend all that time and energy building a brand-new nest? The scientists think it has something to do with the fine sand particles that make up the smooth center of the circles. (Read “Africa’s Mysterious ‘Fairy Circles’ Explained.”)

The males use up all the fine sand within the radius of their nest during a single spawning cycle. To construct another nest, they have to look elsewhere for a site with more fine sand particles.

Now that’s what you call a labor of love.

SOURCE: Mary Bates and National Geographic

Storm Clouds Over California As Seen From Space

Photograph courtesy NASA

Sparks of lightning embedded within a giant storm system light up the night over southern California in this snapshot taken by the crew aboard the International Space Station.

The yellow patchwork across the middle of the frame, are the city lights of Los Angeles and San Diego beneath the grey clouds.

SOURCE: National Geographic