Other Species

"For me, one of the most profound moments of the trip was when I was sitting at 500 meters, gazing at a huge boulder teeming with vibrant marine life and I realized that, in my search for deep sea corals, I had discovered an entire ocean.”
~ Jennifer Lash, Expedition Leader

	Lab photo of a skeleton shrimp (Caprellidae) family -- a mother and 20 juveniles -- living on a Swiftia coral  collected at 284 meters deep in South Moresby Gully. Photo: Mark Wunsch.
	Goose Trough - Cloud sponge with rosethorn rockfish and crab. Goose Trough has been protected from bottom trawling since 2002 because it is home to high abundances of B.C.'s globally unique Hexactinellid sponge reefs. Cloud sponges are known to provide shelter for a wide array of deep sea species. At 240 meters deep we saw vast fields of sponges covered in a naturally occuring layer of sediment along with many species including feather stars, broyzoans, prawns, perch, flounder, thornyhead and several species of rockfish.
	South Moresby Gully - Giant plumose anemone (Metridium farcimen) at 120 meters. We encountered rock outcroppings with densely packed orange and white metridium anemones over one foot in height that were spawning in large gelatinous clouds. They are related to corals and jellyfish, and use stinging cells to stun and capture prey. Rockfish and lingcod swam amongst the anemones while sea stars clung to the rocky walls.
	Red tree coral (Primnoa pacifica) with rockfish. Abundant Primnoa up to one meter high and two meters wide were observed to be associated with brachiopods, brittle stars, sea cucumber,  decorator crab, stylaster coral, shrimp, anemone, urchin, lingcod  ratfish and rockfish.
	Young red tree coral (Primnoa) with cup corals, anemone and sponges. This photo was take in Portland Inlet, an area of abundant Primnoa between 180 and 365 meters, and demonstrates the wide variety of species that can be found living on the steep walls of coastal fjords.
	At South Moresby, the science team encountered vast stretches of brittle stars that seemed to take up every available space but were not touching each other. Brittle stars are an essential aspect of the deep sea food web.
	These juvenile quillback rockfish were on a rocky ledge in Juan Perez Sound. Quillbacks are generally bottom feeders, eating crabs, shrimp, other crustaceans, and  juvenile Pacific herring.

Sponges
Seven species of Hexactinellid sponges (‘glass sponges’) were discovered in British Columbia in 1984, and were the only living specimens known to exist until sponge reefs were discovered in Washington State in 2007. The reefs formed after the last ice age and are extremely fragile and sensitive to disturbance.

Glass sponge reefs provide habitat for rockfish, spider and king crab, shrimp, prawns, euphasids, annelid worms, bryozoans, rare bivalves and gastropods, sea stars and urchins.

Scientists studying glass sponges believe that the largest specimens may be 200 years old and their rate of recovery after they have been damaged many be 0-7 centimetres per year. The Geological Survey of Canada estimates that half of  B.C.'s Hexactinellid sponges may have already been destroyed by bottom trawling.

In March 2007, B.C.’s Hexactinellid sponges received full protection from bottom trawling. This year-round protection is not permanent, however. Living Oceans Society and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society are calling on Fisheries and Oceans Canada to designate the sponge reefs as Marine Protected Areas.