SERPENT Image & Video Database
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Cnidarians from Mozambique
No full textattached to seafloorCorals, soft corals, stylasterines on hard substratum off Mozambiqu
Scalloped hammerhead
No full textSwimming at the seabed at >1000 m depthA scalloped hammerhead seen with a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) at over 1000 m depth. At the time of publication this is the deepest record of this species. The observation is described in the SERPENT Project publication:
Alec B.M. Moore and Andrew R. Gates (2015). Deep-water observation of scalloped hammerhead Sphyrna lewini in the western Indian Ocean off Tanzania. Marine Biodiversity Records, 8, e91
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S175526721500062
Benthocodon sp.
No full textThese animals drift slowly over the surface of the sediment apparently feeding on copepods and organic material on the sedimentThis hydromedusa is probably Benthocodon (perhaps B. pedunculata). However, the genus may be Voragonema. Without a higher resolution image or a properly preserved specimen, it is impossible to be certain.
These are common in the benthic boundary zone in all the oceans. They apparently feed on copepods, perhaps too, the organic fluff that carpets the sea floor
Actinernus
No full textThis example is seen drawing its tentacle through its mouth to feed.This anemone belongs to the genus Actinernus. There are four valid species, living in deep seas all over the globe
Echinothuriid
No full textWalking over the seabedAn echinothuriid sea urchin.
Note the tracks on the surface of the sediment created by the movement of this animal.
The hooves on the spines are diagnostic for what Mortensen called asthenosomine echinothurioids. (This basically excludes only the Phormosoma group).
Notice the dark tips of the aboral spines; these are venom-bearing tissues.
There are 8 genera in the group with hooves on the spines the ambulacral plating strongly suggests a Sperosoma or a Tromikosoma.
It seems that these echinothuriids from the Lavani site are all the same species (except for Phormosoma
Grimpoteuthis sp.
No full textThis cirrate octopod is a Grimpoteuthis sp. It is not possible to identify to species because the specimen is required, in hand, to count suckers and dissect out the shell
Xenophyophore
No full textThis is most likely the Xenophyophore Syringammina sp.
Xenophyophores are single celled organisms. The single cell branches and splits into hundreds of tubes which ramify and interconnect into a complex network. The test builds up as it proliferates, secreting a slimy organic cement. These are the largest structures produced by a single cell
Seapen
No full textThis Pennatulid (seapen) could represent a variety of possibilities, like Scleroptilum sp., Halipteris sp., Protoptilum sp., Distichoptilum sp., or Funiculina sp.
This is a large seapen, it is at least 1 m tall.
There is also a Xenophyophore at the bottom of the image
Antimora rostrata
No full textA very brief glimpse of a blue antimora at the seabed in the Indian Ocea
possibly Parapagurus pilosimanus (and Epizoanthus paguriphilus anemone) from Mozambique
No full textwalking on seafloorA hermit crab that associates with an anemone - in the Atlantic the species is Parapagurus pilosimanus (and Epizoanthus paguriphilus is the anemone). This looks fairly similar, but species level identification requires a specime