Day 14
13 february 2022
Last day
The missions of the EMSO-LO campaign were successfully carried out through a beautiful collaboration between sailors and scientists.
The end of this adventure at sea will mark the beginning of a great enthusiasm on land for the discoveries to come ! All the interventions carried out will make it possible to spread beautiful images of the deep environment for a better awareness of this universe.
The balance of the deep sea is one of the pillars of life on Earth and deserves our protection.
Crédit photo : Nicolas Fromont - @nicolasfromontphoto
Last observations
The disembarkation is planned for tomorrow morning, it's the last moment for observations before the big tidying up.
What you see is a polychaete worm of the genus Tomopteris, and it's one of the rare planktonic species capable of yellow bioluminescence. Why is yellow bioluminescence rare? What is its role? Which microorganisms are responsible? The answer to these questions is not yet clear...
Scientists interested in bioluminescence are trying to determine its origin and to understand its implication in communication in the dark.
Crédit photo : Marthe Vienne
Phyllosome
Here is a surprising observation. This animal is bigger than the zooplankton previously observed, but it's flat and transparent which makes it difficult to notice! It took Martha a while to see it!
She found a phyllosome, which is the planktonic larva of spiny lobsters and slipper lobsters. Against all odds, the spiny lobster larva is shaped like a leaf !
On the picture, the head of the animal is oriented upwards; the cephalic region is the most developed and we can distinguish its pedunculated eyes !
Crédit photo : Marthe Vienne