Want to go for a dive? Talk about undersea warfare!

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Here is an article that may be of some inspiration for background for
some of those Auazone type FT Scenarios.  Although it could be useful in
an Aquazone DS 2 or even SG 2 scenario too!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3017078.stm

Weird ocean life surprises 
		 By Dr David Whitehouse 
		 BBC News Online science editor 

		 New species of underwater life, including a giant sea
spider
		 and armoured shrimps, have been discovered by a
expedition
		 trawling in deep water northwest of New Zealand. 

		 Researchers on a joint NZ and
		 Australian voyage also found
		 deep-sea sponges and a prickly
		 shark. 

		 The scientists have just returned
		 from four weeks aboard the
		 Research Vessel Tangaroa
		 collecting and photographing
		 species at depths up to 2.1
		 kilometres (1.3 miles). 

		 According to Mark Norman, of Victoria Museum in
Australia, the
		 survey around Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands was the
most
		 complex research expedition ever conducted in
Australasia. 

		 "Many species new to science were recognised, including
new
		 sharks and rays, redfish, rattails, and a range of
invertebrates,"
		 he says. 

		 Each way bet 

		 One newly discovered creature,
		 called the fangtooth, has teeth
		 longer than its head. To avoid
		 piercing its own brain when it
		 shuts its mouth, its teeth fit into
		 opposing sockets. 

		 The so-called viperfish has a
		 hinged head and the coffinfish
		 walks along the sea floor on
		 short leg-like fins with a glowing
		 lure on its head to attract prey. 

		 They also found two rare spiked dogfish, a small type
of
shark,
		 doubling the number of known specimens. 

		 One of the strangest creatures was a Pacific spookfish
which has
		 a long snout that probes for electrical signals from
its
prey. 

		 There was also a squid,
		 nicknamed the wonky-eyed jewel
		 squid, which has a left eye much
		 larger than its right eye. It seems
		 that the big eye looks up for food
		 while the small eye looks down
		 for predators. 

		 The spiders found on the sea
		 floor are not related to terrestrial
		 spiders. They have such small
		 bodies that some of their internal
		 organs are pushed down inside
		 their hollow legs. 

		 Work starts here 

		 The strange characteristics of the new lifeforms are
adaptations
		 to conditions beneath kilometres of water where the
pressure is
		 hundreds of times greater than at the surface; and it
is
also
		 completely dark. 

		 The researchers also found a huge fossilised tooth of
an
extinct
		 shark known as a megalodon. The tooth had been lying
		 undisturbed on the sea floor for millions of years. 

		 In total, 500 species of fish and 1,300 of
invertebrates
were
		 discovered. It will take over a year to classify them
all. 

		 "We are only just beginning to
		 understand our marine
		 environment and voyages like
		 this help us fill in pieces of the
		 puzzle," says Australia's National
		 Oceans Office deputy director
		 Sean Sullivan. 

		 "Scientists know roughly as much
		 about Australia's ocean
		 environments as we did about
		 the Australian land 150 years
		 ago." 

		 The month-long on the RV Tangaroa also found extinct
volcanoes
		 as they mapped the ocean floor during the
10,000-kilometre
		 (6,200 miles) voyage. 

--------- End forwarded message ----------

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