A photograph taken by a team of researchers at Oceanlab - the University of Aberdeen’s world-leading facility into deep-sea research – has received a top prize in an international deep-sea image competition.
The award-winning photograph was submitted as part of the 11th International Deep-Sea Biology Symposium held this week at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. The symposium launched its flagship underwater image and video competition to showcase the best biological and technical images and video clips from the deep sea.
Oceanlab was selected for the Highly Commended Award in the Underwater Images – 200m category and the photograph will now be featured in this week’s edition of Nature.
PhD student Nicola King, who is based at the University’s Oceanlab, said: “The image is a picture of a shark, Deania calcea, of which the common name is the Birdbeak dogfish, with cutthroat eels, Synaphobranchus kaupii, in the background.
“The image was taken off the west coast of Ireland in April 2004 at 931m water depth. The camera is positioned on a lander - an automous free fall system, looking out onto a baited arm.”
Nicola explained that the scavenging animals are attracted by the smell of the mackerel they use for the bait. She said: “We can now use the information from the images to assess abundance (how many scavenging animals there are), the number of scavenging species within the region, and their size.
“These images are significant as they photograph animals which are being affected by overfishing in this region.”
The guidelines of the competition, as outlined on the symposium website, said the images must “capture the marine environment and its exploration in dramatic, informative and dynamic ways” and, that the use of new techniques and technology that challenge the normal way we view the ocean, were encouraged.
The images were judged on their visual impact, their importance to science, the novelty, the rarity of the subject, but most of all the way they capture the essence of the deep ocean and how we explore it today.
Further information on the University’s Oceanlab is available by logging on to: www.oceanlab.abdn.ac.uk