{"id":18115,"date":"2023-06-02T20:11:36","date_gmt":"2023-06-03T00:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=18115"},"modified":"2024-08-28T11:14:26","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T15:14:26","slug":"who-wants-to-see-a-30-foot-jellyfish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/who-wants-to-see-a-30-foot-jellyfish\/","title":{"rendered":"Naturalist’s Notebook: Who Wants to See a 30-Foot Jellyfish?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
The cruise industry represents one of the largest travel segments in the world economy and it plays a significant role in introducing travelers to new places and experiences. To engage both prospective and repeat passengers, cruise lines are increasingly offering new products and services. It turns out that some of the services offer paying passengers an opportunity to contribute to our knowledge of deep-sea marine life only accessible by going underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wildlife and ecology in the waters around Antarctica are relatively understudied, especially at depths greater than 150 feet, which is beyond the reach of scientific SCUBA equipment. Researchers at Viking Expeditions wondered if personal submersibles \u2014 small submarines deployed by some commercial cruise lines for paying cruise passengers \u2014 also could be vehicles for studying marine life in deeper and colder water habitats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scientists know very little about a large deep-water jellyfish known as S. gigantea<\/em>. Its bell can be as wide as 3 feet, and its arms can reach over 18 feet long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because this jellyfish typically stays between 3000 and 9000 feet below the surface \u2014 except in the Southern Ocean near Antarctica \u2014 we don\u2019t have much information about its behavior, diet, environmental preferences, or reproduction. There are only 126 recorded encounters with the species since it was first described in 1910.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Could personal submersibles be the answer to locating and observing the elusive S. gigantea<\/em> in the Southern Ocean?<\/p>\n\n\n\n