ROV Deep Discoverer’s lights drew a swarm of small crustaceans, and this anemone took full advantage of the free meal. Here, amphipods are captured by the specially adapted stinging cells, called nematocysts, on the anemone’s tentacles. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014. Download larger version (jpg, 1.7 MB).
Soft sedimented seafloor with anemones and red crabs was a typical landscape of the area we surveyed in Washington canyon. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Exploring Atlantic Canyons and Seamounts 2014. Download larger version (jpg, 1.4 MB).