Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
From JAMSTEC: Scaly foot--a spiral gastropod clad in iron sulfide scales Found only in an extremely limited region of hyrdothermal areas within the Indian Ocean, which is called "Kairei Field". As the name suggests, this creature is covered in rugged scales that protect it from predators. How it actually creates its iron sulfide scales, however, is not yet fully understood. A JAMSTEC research team succeeded in observing the creature in an onboard tank for the first time in February 2006. You can download my paper on this species for free here.
Comments
That's a great photo. I love this snail. Has it been named yet?
Posted by: Snail | October 26, 2007 5:43 AM
Not as of yet
Posted by: CR McClain | October 26, 2007 8:25 AM
I SFG
Posted by: kevin z | October 26, 2007 10:27 AM
I heart SFG
Posted by: kevin z | October 26, 2007 10:29 AM
The coolest gastropod on the face of the planet. Hell, the coolest invertebrate ever.
Posted by: CR McClain` | October 26, 2007 11:44 AM
A plate mail clad snail... Will they ever make it into the aquarium trade? I have a tank I've been meaning to fill up....
Posted by: Troy | October 26, 2007 4:34 PM
The little guy's adorable!!! That is just so amazing how it uses pyrite for pretection. Is it known what it eats? (Still reading paper, sorry if that was already mentioned!)
Posted by: Gwynog | October 27, 2007 7:43 AM
That's so cool! I can imagine there are fossilized forebears of this guy waiting to be discovered somewhere too. imagine those fossils!
Posted by: Homie Bear | October 27, 2007 3:38 PM
In fact, I wonder if they have already been found but not recognized for what they are? Crazy.
Posted by: Homie Bear | October 27, 2007 3:40 PM
I think this is a good competitor on your next Friday Deep Sea Picture:
http://rifters.com/real/2007/10/remedial-gigerology-part-2.html
Posted by: Yuval Langer | October 28, 2007 10:41 AM