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.

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