The NAUTILUS camera team (Shannon and Julia) arrived with four camera systems to record beaked whale prey found off the island of Terceira at various depths. Our aim is to learn more about the life history, occurrence and behavior of the animals living in the deep sea in order to increase our understanding of the complex interactions between predator and prey of the local ecosystem and thus to be able to better protect it. On board the RV Meteor, we spent the first few days planning the deployment of the equipment with the crew to prepare the systems for their first voyage into the deep ocean of the Atlantic.

We have two types of camera systems. The “lander”, also affectionately known as CARL, sinks to the seafloor with a weight, where it then records everything that lives on and above the seafloor. After 24 hours, we send an acoustic signal from the ship, which releases the lander on the seafloor and the system floats back to the surface. We spot it floating at the surface and recover it with the help of the crew. Then, we analyze the videos. We also have a “drifter” system, also known as a DARC (Dar-cee). This floats freely between 750 – 1200 m in the water column and is moved through the water by the tides and the wind. With the help of a GPS, we can locate it after 24 hours and haul it back on board with a winch.

The special feature of the NAUTILUS camera system is that we can film under white light and red light. The red light is not perceived by most deep-sea animals, which makes them less afraid to come close to the lens. We also use bait (fish or squid) to attract the animals, which they smell and come close to the camera to investigate. But that’s not enough for us! Another trick we use is an optical lure, the bioluminescent “eJelly”. Here we adopt a trick known as the “burglar alarm”. The principle is based on the observation of the deep-sea jellyfish Atolla. The Atolla emits a bioluminescent signal when it is attacked by a predator. This alerts other, bigger predators which then attack the Atolla jellyfish’s predator. This is how the Atolla jellyfish saves itself from its attacker. Isn’t it fascinating how animals evolved to have remarkable adaptations? Armed with all these tricks, we wanted to attract all sorts of things, and it worked!

Already after we got our first systems back on the boat, we were able to film jellyfish, crustaceans, squid and even sharks! All the data collected will be analyzed in the internal video laboratory at GEOMAR after our trip and the deep-sea animal species filmed will be documented. We are excited to see what we captured on film!

Thanks to all crew members and fellow scientists for a successful cruise on which we gained many new impressions!

The Nautilus Team,

Shannon and Julia