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Fragile collection

Scientists of the “Inner Space Speciation Project”—a four-week expedition led by WHOI biologist Larry Madin to look for new species in Southeast Asia’s Celebes Sea—used a wide range of methods to sample ocean life. Most jellyfish are so fragile that they are destroyed when collected with a plankton net. Scuba divers carried collecting bags filled with glass jars to collect delicate animals near the surface, such as these Aequorea jellyfish.
(Photo by Larry Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)