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        MBARI creates and globally scales the visionary technologies required to explore, map, and understand our changing ocean.

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        MBARI is a non-profit oceanographic research center advancing marine science and engineering to understand our changing ocean.

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    Animals of the Deep

    From a fish with a transparent head to an adorable octopus with webbed arms, MBARI researchers have encountered some captivating creatures in more than three decades of deep-sea research. Meet some of our favorite denizens of the deep and learn about their adaptations to survive in an environment of frigid cold, inky darkness, and crushing pressure.

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    A deep purple abyssal comb jelly with folded mouth

    Abyssal comb jelly

    (Beroe abyssicola)

    Angler siphonophore

    (Erenna sirena)

    An armored sea cucumber sits on the seafloor. The sea cucumber has a cream-colored, round, flat body with feathery white tentacles at one end. On the right side of the frame are a white clam, a pink twig-like coral, and an orange squat lobster. The background is a sloped seafloor covered in fine brown sediment and encrusting microorganisms.

    Armored sea cucumber

    (Psolus squamatus)

    Balloon worm

    (Poeobius meseres)

    Bamboo coral

    (family Keratoisididae)

    Barrel amphipod

    (Phronima sedentaria)

    Barreleye fish

    (Macropinna microstoma)

    A yellow basket star attached to a rock on the muddy deep seafloor and extending its curly arms into the water

    Basket star

    (Gorgonocephalus eucnemis)

    Big red jelly

    (Tiburonia granrojo)

    Bloody-belly comb jelly

    (Lampocteis cruentiventer)

    Bomber worm

    (Swima spp.)

    A large pink fan-shaped coral with several smaller pink corals, white corals and yellow sponges in the background. This screen capture from underwater video shows corals attached to rocks covered in dark brown sediment, with dark water in the background.

    Bubblegum coral

    (Paragorgia arborea)

    California sun star

    (Rathbunaster californicus)

    Common siphonophore

    (Nanomia bijuga)

    A transparent shrimp-like amphipod crustacean swims in the water column, facing the top of the frame. It has a large, rounded, dome-shaped head, pale-yellow gut, and a segmented body, with jointed legs spread out on either side of its body. The background is dark-blue, almost black, water with small white flecks of drifting organic material.

    Crystal amphipod

    (Cystisoma spp.)

    Deep-sea anglerfish

    (order Lophiiformes)

    A shark with a sleek brown body, long tail fin, and iridescent green eyes swims toward the right of the frame. The background is dark blue water.

    Deep-sea catshark

    (family Pentanchidae)

    Deep-sea crown jelly

    (Atolla spp.)

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