HARBOR BRANCH - OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

NEW DEEP-SEA PREDATOR DISCOVERED (AND UPCOMING TALK)

FT. PIERCE, Fla. -- March 18, 2004 -- HARBOR BRANCH fish ecologist Dr. Tracey Sutton has discovered a new species in a bizarre and elusive family of deep-sea predatory fish known collectively as dragonfish. The find, reported in the current issue of the journal Copeia, is the first new dragonfish species discovered in more than a decade. (For photos, see: ftp://ftp.hboi.edu/outgoing/press/Dragon)

The first specimen of the new species, dubbed Eustomias jimcraddocki, is about six inches long and roughly the size of a hot dog, though most dragonfish are closer in size to a pencil. Sutton named it after Jim Craddock, a legend in the deep-sea fish biology field.

Sutton discovered the fish during an expedition to Bear Seamount, off New England, that was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Ocean Exploration. Now the head of HARBOR BRANCH's Fish and Plankton Ecology Department, at the time he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

"The fact that we are still finding new species in one of the best-studied oceanic regions in the world tells us there is still a lot more out there to be known," says Sutton, who is also a leader in the ambitious international effort to identify all ocean animal and plant species known as the Census of Marine Life.

Sutton plucked the new dragonfish from a net being used to sample the study area's marine life. While identifying the catch on board, he realized that the specimen represented a new species. Later he traveled to the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard to do some fish sleuthing. In museum collections at those institutions, he found 13 additional specimens collected in the Atlantic over the past 30 years of the new specimens that had previously been either unidentified or misidentified. This work verified that the new species was in fact unique.

Dragonfish are so rare that scientists have often been forced to study and describe new species based on a single specimen. "I really wanted more than just one fish," says Sutton, "so I was relieved to find more."

As with all dragonfish, which live at depths ranging from about 600 to 3,000 feet, the new species has menacing teeth, and a mouth that can jut out to engulf prey as wide as it is. They also have small organs along their bellies that produce light, or bioluminescence, and that may serve as camouflage to make the fish blend in with faint sunlight from above, thus appearing invisible to potential predators below.

The distinguishing feature of dragonfishes is a long thin protrusion known as a barbel anchored at the fish's chin that trails below its body. The barbels look like tree branches, and each species has a unique barbel pattern. At the end of the barbel is a bioluminescent organ the animals use like a fishing lure to attract their prey, mainly smaller lanternfish. If the barbels served only this function, scientists would expect all dragonfishes to have similar barbels. However, because the protrusions are so varied, some theorize the fish may also use them to identify other members of their own species for reproduction.

On Wednesday, March 24, for the final event in HARBOR BRANCH's 2004 Ocean Science Lecture Series, Sutton will be giving a presentation titled "Predators of the Deep." Besides the dragonfish, he will discuss the near endless array of fantastic predatory animals found in the deep sea ranging from swimming attack snails to giant squid to jellyfish colonies that can grow as long as a whale. Sutton will explain how these animals are able to detect and capture prey in a dark world, as well as their various strategies to avoid being eaten themselves. He will also discuss the extent to which marine life can be relied on to help feed a geometrically expanding human population.

For more information, please contact Mark Schrope at 772-216-0390, or schrope@hboi.edu. Photos of the dragonfish (ftp://ftp.hboi.edu/outgoing/press/Dragon) and copies of the journal article are available.

Dr. Sutton will give his Predators of the Deep talk at both 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on March 24 at the main auditorium of the Johnson Education Center at HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, Fla. The talks are free to the public.

HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution was founded in Ft. Pierce, Fla., in 1971 to support the exploration and conservation of the world's oceans. The institution has held to this mission and grown into one of the world's leading oceanographic institutions with a 500-acre campus, over 200 personnel, and a fleet of sophisticated research ships and submersibles.