NSU Newsroom
SharkBytes
Horizons
This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
OC Professor Dives 2,000 Feet in Roatan to Study Marine Life
Oceanographic Center Professor Charles Messing recently returned from a research expedition to the island of Roatan, Honduras, where he made seven dives to depths reaching 2,000 feet using the submersible Idabel (Roatan Institute of Deep-Sea Exploration) to study the ecology of crinoids—sea lilies and featherstars. He was accompanied by paleontologists Tomasz Baumiller (University of Michigan) and Forest Gahn (Brigham Young University, Idaho).
The expedition returned to some of the same sites visited in 2012, which allowed the team to measure growth, mortality and regeneration of some crinoids with pedigrees dating to the Mesozoic Era. The research will contribute significantly to our understanding of life in ancient seas. The expedition also examined the distribution and growth of deep-sea corals. These expeditions were funded by an NSU President’s Faculty Research and Scholarship Award to Messing, supplemented this year by a grant from the National Geographic Society to Baumiller. The latter will allow the team to return again next year.
-
- Professor Charles Messing
-
- Crinolds on sponge