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Tracking an Advance

King crabs may be an important economic marine resource in many regions, but they are also a high-level predator that, in the wrong place, can have devastating impacts on the environment. Recent NSF-funded work by WHOI, the Florida Institute of Technology, and elsewhere revealed the presence of a reproductive population of king crabs on the continental slope off the western Antarctic Peninsula with few environmental barriers standing between them and the delicate continental shelf ecosystem. The team, which included WHOI scientist Hanu Singh, used Seasled (pictured) to photograph vast areas of previously unexplored seafloor beneath open and partially ice-covered waters. (Courtesy of H. Singh, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)