Living stylodactylid shrimp was documented in the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument. Depths such as those at the Marianas Trench Marine National Monument are an extreme challenge for explorers. Providing too little information about the species living there and their behavior.
A team of scientists, led by Dr. Mary Wicksten, Texas A&M University, USA, have recently retrieved footage of a live shrimp. From the seafloor at a striking depth of 4826 meters. The video, presumably shows a species, observing a previously known from a single broken specimen from the Coral Sea, while filter-feeding. With the help of the remotely operated vehicle Deep Discoverer.
The researchers have obtained the first footage of a living deep-sea benthic shrimp of the Stylodactylidae family. The video was in high definition that researchers were able to identify the shrimp at a species level called Bathystylodactylus bathyalis. This also holds the record of deepest level for this kind of stylodactylid shrimp.
According to Science Daily, the researchers navigating through the sea floor, mostly thickly sedimented with clay-like particles easily disturbed into clouds. Using the Deep Discoverer, the scientists at the shore, observe depths ranging from 4840 to 4787 meters. When it reached 4826 meters, it came nearer a small shrimp measuring about 120 millimeter in length.
As soon as they noticed the stylodactylid shrimp, they navigated the Deep Discoverer to face the shrimp and take more detailed shots. NOAA ship Okeanos Explorer, is equipped with the remotely-operated vehicle Deep Discoverer and a camera sled. It has high-speed communication capabilities.
According to the News Science Line, Okeanos Explorer is to be employed once again in 2017 to continue its explorative mission. The Okeanos Explorer will focus on deep water areas of U.S. marine protected areas in the central and western Pacific. The documentation of the stylodactylid shrimp is one remarkable progress in the deep sea exploration.
