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In the pink

Beautiful, ugly, or just plain peculiar according to individual reactions, this pink see-through fantasia is a swimming sea cucumber seen about 2,500 meters deep in the Celebes Sea. In 2007 WHOI biologist Larry Madin led a team of scientists and photographers from the U.S. and the Philippines on an expedition to explore biodiversity in the deep Celebes Sea, supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Geographic Society, and the WHOI Ocean Life Institute. The team used scuba diving, nets, cameras, and ROVs to study the deep sea in this area that has been called a “cradle of biodiversity for shallow water marine animals.”
(Photo by Laurence Madin, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)