Behold, the latest deep-sea way: an unfortunate fish parasite as a braid.
An international team of scientists related to the Schmidt Ocean Institute and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute discovered small animals during a recent expedition to the South Sandwich Islands, located in remote Atlantic Oceans along South America and the Antarctic coast.
In a footage that haunts about 1,604 feet (489 meters) of the seabed, the camera captures tubular crustaceans locked on the fish's back. Although the presence of parasites may trigger your gag reflexes, they are actually signs that the underwater ecosystem is operating the way it should be.
“Diversifiable, functional, healthy ecosystems actually have higher diversity and abundant parasites,” benthic ecologist Lauren Dykman said in an earlier article on Woods Hole.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkkjn3db1to
The expedition stumbled upon fish tangled by parasites, part of a mission designed to classify biodiversity in the deep sea and to spot geological disasters such as underwater landslides or hydrothermal activities.
A release from the Schmidt Marine Institute noted that parasites put ecosystem populations under control, regulate food webs and increase ocean biodiversity.
But researchers also stare at the bigger prize: investigating Antarctic cyclone currents (the ocean flowing around the Antarctic), and its role in shaping habitats such as the grenade fish and its copepods inhabit. The role of the current is like the boundary wall of water, creating temperature differences that affect where animals live, migrate and reproduce. Scientists suspect it may act as a biogeographic boundary, separating the ecosystem and driving unique adaptations on both sides.
This isolated part of the deep sea is little known, and every slimy fish and squirming fish is a clue to how biodiversity changes at the underwater boundary.
The South Sandwich Islands Expedition is one of many projects that promotes this growing awareness that this remote ecosystem (parasitic and all) is filled with surprises and vitality, which is for understanding the past, current changes and future appearance of our planet. Parasites are most important for hairs, which are indicators of a thriving ecosystem, shaped by the unique conditions of the deep sea.
