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Alvin‘s Animals

Scientists exploring the ocean depths in the WHOI-operated Alvin submersible have discovered hundreds of previously unknown species. They include the Eptatretus strickrotti hagfish, named for Bruce Strickrott, the Alvin pilot who captured it; shaggy white Yeti crabs, Kiwa hirsuta (from the Latin word for “shaggy” or “bristly”), only the second new family of deep-sea crab identified since the mid-1800s; and tubeworms and giant clams that live near hot seafloor hydrothermal vents. This female crab, with orange eggs tucked into her abdomen, was collected from the seafloor by Alvin during an expedition to the Galápagos Rift in May 2005. (Photo by Amy Nevala, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)