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Chilling Out with Sponges.
August 13, 1999
@Sea correspondent/
photographer,
Mark Carroll |
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| Sub technician Ben Chiong and pilot Dan Boggess repair a light on the top of the JOHNSON-SEA-LINK submersible. |
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August 13, 4:30pm, Gulf of Mexico, 105 miles west of Naples, Florida -- In a dark recess of the Research Vessel EDWIN LINK (RVEL), far removed from outside light, Dr. Claudia Harper is working in her small, icy laboratory. A red light glows from one of the corners, providing a bit of visual warmth, at least. This room is as cold as the deep sea...precisely the temperature it is supposed to be. |
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Dr. Claudia Harper tests the chemistry of one of her samples in the red light of her frigid lab.
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Harper, a veterinarian from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has replicated the environment of the cold, dark deep with the comfort of sponges in mind. Weathering these deep-sea-like conditions (minus the pressure) in a fleece pullover, she explained her project.
"We are trying to keep our deep-sea sponges alive," she said while checking dissolved oxygen levels in her tanks. "If we can accomplish that, we could potentially save lots of money, effort, and wild populations of these animals. With a constant supply of cultured (lab or farm grown) animals, researchers wouldn't have to return to sea every time they wanted to do more research or needed a new sample."
However, deep-sea creatures have an annoying tendency to die once plucked from the ocean. It is a problem that has always plagued marine biologists. If Harper and her colleagues succeed with their aquaculture experiment, they are confident that it could lead to a larger scale model for keeping deep-sea sponges alive in an artificial environment. |
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