Deep-Sea Failure


Humboldt squid are giants of the deep. Tey can grow up to 2 meters long. Tey grab prey with barbed suckers on their tentacles and shred it with their beaks. Yet, since these invertebrates spend most of their time deep in the ocean, scientists know little about them. Greg Marshall, a National Geographic


explorer, wanted to learn more about them. He had invented Crittercam, a video camera system that he puts on animals. Te camera shows what the animals see. He had already put the camera on many marine animals, such as penguins, whales, and sharks. Unlike with marine vertebrates, attaching


a camera to an invertebrate had some special problems. Aſter all, squid are soſt. So Marshall and his team needed a harness they could slip onto a squid that would hold the camera in place. Another biologist pitched in. He came up with a harness made from his wife’s pants! One night, the team used bait to lure a


squid to their boat. Tey pulled it in and gently wrestled it into the harness. Ten they let the squid go. It swam deep into the ocean.


Te team waited. Tey’d designed the


harness to loosen and then float back to the surface aſter a certain amount of time. But the Crittercam came back too soon. To find out what happened, the team looked


at the video the camera recorded. What they saw shocked them. Whipping their tentacles, other squid ripped the camera off. Ten, leaving the squid that carried the camera unharmed, one squid even tried to eat the camera. Te team concluded that the camera’s dim


red lights had caused the problem. Tey’d used red lights to light the dark ocean because they thought that the squid couldn’t see red. It turns out that squid probably do see red, and it makes them aggressive. So the team took off the red lights and tried


again. Tis time, the squid ignored the camera. Tey behaved normally. Te team’s initial failure led to an unexpected


discovery. “You don’t give up,” Marshall says. “Tis is how we learn and advance science. We’re pushing boundaries and learning from our mistakes.”


Greg Marshall holds a Crittercam. His team attached one of the cameras to a Humboldt squid, leading to one of their biggest failures.


12


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24