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Tim Shank holding a bio sample.

Tim Shank holding a bio sample.
Tim Shank holding a bio sample.
Tim Shank holding a bio sample.
Tim Shank holding a bio sample.
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75346
Linder, Christopher
Tim Shank holding a bio sample.
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09/11/2007
graphics/agave2/cl_20070729_agave07_biosamples_012.jpg
Watching the video cameras on the Camper vehicle, WHOI biologist Tim Shank had seen these stick-like things on seafloor rocks. Scientists have seen little seafloor animal life here, but these were among the most abundant they have observed. They were narrow tubes, 1 to 3 feet long, shaped somewhat like tubeworms that populate hydrothermal vents in other oceans. They also poked out from rock crevices, as tubeworms do. Shank saw no evidence of hydrothermal vents, and the unidentified "stick-worms" as he referred to them, were dead. Might they be dead animals from extinct vents? Shank wanted a sample in the worst way. But Camper's sampling device was designed to grab hunks out of bunches, not daintily extract a single thin stick. "They were attached to the sides of rocks, so the only way was to grab a rock they were stuck on," said WHOI engineer John Bailey, who operates Camper's samplers. "We were drifting so slowly, we 'landed' the vehicle on seafloor right over sample. After ten tries, we finally achieved what we wanted." After Shank was able to get a good look at the sample, he said, "It's a sponge, with glass spicules laid down like hair in a matrix," Shank said. "In all the literature I've seen, I haven't seen this species." Shank will be able to conduct further analyses, including DNA analyses, when he returns to his lab.
Photo by Chris Linder
© Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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