Abstract
Abstract. The soundings in deep waters of Baffin Bay, together with the recovery of a basket star by John Ross in 1818, was a milestone in the history of deep-sea research. Although the alleged water depths of up to 1950 m were by far not reached, these were nevertheless the first soundings in deep bathyal (to perhaps uppermost abyssal) depths. Furthermore, the recovery of a benthic animal proved that animal life existed at great depths. Yet this was not the first published record of deep-sea fauna as it is often portrayed. This merit goes to accidental catches of the stalked crinoid Cenocrinus asterius that were recovered with fishing lines from upper bathyal environments near Antillean islands. In addition, the description of several deep-sea fishes considerably predated the John Ross episode.
Highlights
The recovery of a benthic animal proved that animal life existed at great depths. This was not the first published record of deep-sea fauna as it is often portrayed. This merit goes to accidental catches of the stalked crinoid Cenocrinus asterius that were recovered with fishing lines from upper bathyal environments near Antillean islands
When books or review-papers give in their introductory section a short overview of the history of deep-sea research, the recovery of a basket star by Sir John Ross in 1818 from deep waters of the Northwest Passage is often cited as the first organism that was brought up from the deep sea (Menzies et al, 1973; Tyler, 1980; Gage and Tyler, 1991; RamirezLlodra et al, 2010)
Stalked crinoids from the Caribbean were the first among these early records. They were not perceived as deep-sea animals yet were instrumental in developing the concept of “living fossils”
Summary
When books or review-papers give in their introductory section a short overview of the history of deep-sea research, the recovery of a basket star by Sir John Ross in 1818 from deep waters of the Northwest Passage is often cited as the first organism that was brought up from the deep sea (Menzies et al, 1973; Tyler, 1980; Gage and Tyler, 1991; RamirezLlodra et al, 2010). It was his work on the bathymetric distribution of life in the Aegean Sea, based on more than 100 dredgings to a depth of 240 m (Murray, 1895), that proved most influential. For Wallich this proved that life existed at great depths and was by far the most important sounding ever (and at the same time he dismissed similar results obtained by others; see Rice et al, 1976; Rozwadowski, 2005) His results and conclusions were not widely accepted, which later led him to engage in a bitter feud with Thomson and Carpenter (Rice et al, 1976). During the subsequent circumnavigation of the HMS Challenger (1872–1876) it was proven once and for all that life existed in all oceans and at all depths ( life at the greatest hadal depths, > 10 000 m, was only documented by the Danish deep-sea expedition aboard HDMS Galathea in 1951; Bruun, 1956)
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