Dr. Edith (Edie) Widder decided she wanted to be a marine biologist when she was just 11 years old. But by the time she was in graduate school studying neurobiology, she had essentially given up the idea of fulfilling her childhood dream because of the lack of job opportunities for scientists in these fields.

Then, a chance encounter with a colony of jellyfish led Widder to her own career path investigating bioluminescence, the generation of light by living things, and building the instruments to study it and other undersea phenomena. One of the most remarkable pieces of equipment designed by Widder, who is now the president and senior scientist at Florida’s Ocean Research & Conservation Association, is the Eye-in-the-Sea, a unique, unobtrusive camera that sits on the sea bottom and records the never-before-seen behavior of marine animals.

How did you get involved in ocean research?

For my Ph.D. thesis I was measuring the electrical activity that triggers light emission from a bioluminescent dinoflagellate. As I was nearing the completion of my degree, my major professor wrote a grant for an instrument for measuring the color of very dim light flashes from bioluminescent animals. Because I have always been attracted to hi-tech instrumentation, I kept tinkering with this instrument, until I became the lab expert. At that point, he suggested I tag along on some marine biology trawling cruises and measure the colors emitted by different bioluminescent organisms. I was thrilled. Suddenly, I was doing what I had always dreamed of doing: going to sea on exploratory expeditions!

Dr. Edith (Edie) Widder inspects the Eye-in-the-Sea

The animals brought up in the nets were fantastic, and their light-producing capabilities were incredible. I was enthralled, but I still didn’t see how I could carve a career out of this new passion. One of the research cruises I participated in was organized by Dr. Bruce Robison — currently at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) — to test a diving suit called WASP, which had been developed for use by the offshore oil industry as a tool for ocean exploration. [The suit is big enough inside that there is a display of dials, gauges, and switches in front of the wearer's face.] I wanted to see for myself what bioluminescence in the depths of the ocean actually looked like, and Bruce gave me that opportunity. But first I had to qualify as a pilot, and one of the requirements was to be able to [screw a bolt into a large metal] shackle underwater using [only the manipulator claws of] the Michelin Man arms of the suit. The trouble was that my arms were too short, so I had to figure out a way to do it by manipulating the claws with my fingertips and switching back and forth between one arm and the other.

My dives in WASP were a life-changing experience. During my first open ocean dive, I went down to 800 feet and turned out the lights. I knew I would see bioluminescence, but I was totally unprepared for how much. It was incredible! There were explosions of light everywhere, like being in the middle of a silent fireworks display.

Were any of those dives especially noteworthy?

During one dive, I was using a light meter to measure the penetration of sunlight in the water. I was at a depth where the sunlight had almost disappeared and I had my head down looking at the red LED readout of the light meter display when suddenly the whole inside of the suit seemed to explode with blue light. It was so bright I could see all the dials and gauges inside the suit without a flashlight. I thought it was an electrical arc from something malfunctioning with the 440V that powered the suit. But it wasn’t electrical; it was biological. I had brushed against one end of a siphonophore chain, a colony of jellyfish more than 30 feet long. [Jellyfish in the subclass Siphonophorae connect into long chains, which can be over 100 feet long.] By bumping it I had stimulated its bioluminescence.

And that’s what got you hooked on ocean research?

Yes. I knew this is what I had to study, and it didn’t matter that there was no clear career path to do it. I had questions … Who’s making the light? How much light? How many organisms? Why? And, most importantly, why aren’t more scientists studying this? … and I wanted answers. I knew how much energy — the currency of life — that was required for an organism to produce light, so my subjective impression was that this has to be one of the most important processes in the ocean.

I’ve spent much of my career working with engineers to design and build the instruments I needed to answer my questions. Along the way I’ve been lucky enough to make some thrilling discoveries about who was making all that light and why, and also about what a useful tool bioluminescence is for figuring out how animals are distributed in the ocean and for monitoring the health of marine ecosystems.

When did you get the idea for Eye-in-the-Sea?

I have made hundreds of dives in submersibles, with each dive holding the promise of seeing an organism or a behavior that no one has ever seen before. But I have always wondered about the animals and behaviors that we’re not seeing because our bright lights and loud thrusters scare them away. So I decided to develop an unobtrusive camera system that used red light — which is invisible to the animals — and that was powered off a battery so that it could be left to sit quietly on the bottom of the ocean. I also wanted to test an idea for an unusual kind of lure that imitated a bioluminescent display I believed might be very attractive to large predators.

How long did it take to develop the system?

I first tried to get funding in 1994. The trouble is that it’s virtually impossible to get a grant unless you can tell the granting agency what you are going to discover. Since I had no idea, it wasn’t funded. I finally put it together with bits and pieces that we had around the lab, and a few small pots of money for different parts of the system. We had the prototype Eye-in-the-Sea developed as a student project for the Harvey Mudd College Engineering Clinic program in the fall of 2000. They produced a desktop version of the camera system. Then I got money from NOAA [the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration] to build the camera housing and the frame, and I got MBARI, where I’m an adjunct, to buy the underwater battery. We used MBARI’s ship and remotely-operated vehicle for preliminary testing of the system in Monterey Canyon in 2002.

What has been the most exciting discovery made by the system?

I had wanted to place the Eye-in-the-Sea at an oasis on the bottom of the ocean, in some site rich with life that was likely to be patrolled by large predators. The first time I got to test the camera at such a place was in 2004, in the north end of the Gulf of Mexico, at an amazing location called the brine pool. This remarkable oasis is an underwater lake of water so salty and dense that it forms a pool on the bottom of the ocean. Methane, bubbling up through the pool, feeds a community of mussels and clams and other organisms that rim the shore. We placed the camera on the edge of the shore and left it there overnight. The first four hours of recordings showed fish swimming in front of the camera, apparently unperturbed by the red lights. Then, after four hours, the electronic jellyfish lure was programmed to come on for the first time. Just 86 seconds after it went into its pinwheel display mode, I recorded a squid over 6 feet long. It was not just any squid, but a squid so new to science that it cannot be placed in any known scientific family! I couldn’t have asked for a better proof of concept.

This August, we had an expedition to the Bahamas. We only had three deployments of the camera system during a nine-day cruise, but it was incredible how much we saw. We observed as many as nine different species of deep-sea shark, including a seven-gill shark, and the never-before-seen behavior of giant six-gill sharks rooting the sediment, presumably to scoop up pill bugs. We know so little about deep-sea sharks, especially about their normal behavior, that these recordings are scientific gold. As humans reach deeper into the ocean to feed a hungry planet, many of these deep dwellers are in danger of being wiped out. Their growth and reproduction are often too slow for them to be fished sustainably. We need to know about their life histories and behaviors in order to protect them.

Also on that cruise we recorded more bioluminescence than I’ve ever seen before with the Eye-in-the-Sea. Especially exciting was a series of displays that seemed to be triggered by the electronic jellyfish lure. It seemed like we were talking to something. We just don’t know what we were saying.

What does the future hold?

It’s going to be amazing when we have the Eye-in-the-Sea installed on the cabled network in Monterey Canyon. We’ll be collecting data 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Instead of brief and infrequent glimpses, we are going to have a window into the deep sea that will be open around the clock, for months at a time. There is no telling what we may see.

Imagine standing on the bottom of the ocean and looking up into a glittering kelp forest alive with darting fish, or watching five-foot-long sharks and giant tuna whiz by at arm’s length, or being surrounded by elegant, lacy white jellyfish as they soar, pulsing, through the water. Visitors to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the coast of Northern California experience all this… and more.

For more than 20 years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has entertained, educated, and fascinated its nearly 2 million annual visitors with pioneering displays of realistic undersea environments. Now NATURE gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at one of the world’s leading centers for marine research and conservation — a marvel of engineering and biology that, literally, captures Oceans in Glass. Buy the DVD. Online content for Oceans in Glass was originally posted January 2006.

At 6:58 am on December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded began shaking the Pacific seafloor about 150 miles off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Within moments, the magnitude 9.0 quake gave birth to a tsunami — a wall of fast-moving water that is one of the most feared of all natural disasters.

The word tsunami comes from two Japanese words: tsu, which means harbor, and nami, which means wave. In English, tsunamis are often called tidal waves, but they have nothing to do with the tide. As NATURE’s Violent Hawaii shows, tsumanis are formed when an earthquake, landslide, or even the impact of a meteorite displaces huge amounts of water, sending it rolling at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour across the open ocean. As the tsunami travels into shallower water, near coasts, it slows down and the sloping seafloor pushes the waves upward — resulting in waves that can be several hundred feet high. The powerful flood waters can wash far inland, sweeping everything in their path back out to sea.

The effects can be devastating, as the Indian Ocean tsunami showed. Within hours of the initial earthquake, shorelines thousands of miles away were pummeled by waves as high as 30 feet. Fishermen, tourists, and coastal residents in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, the Maldives, and even as far away as Somalia had little inkling of what was coming due to the speed of the wave and, more importantly, the lack of a tsunami warning system in the Indian Ocean. At last count, more than 155,000 people have been killed and more than 1.7 million displaced in what is being called one of the worst natural disasters of the last 100 years.

Hawaii was hit by a devastating tsunami in 1946 (shown above) and in 1960.

The Indian Ocean tsunami has also served to remind us of past tsunamis. In Alaska and Hawaii, people recalled the 9.2 trembler that hit Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1964, sending a powerful tsunami barreling across the North Pacific. More than 100 people were killed in Alaska, California, and Oregon.

In 1960, a giant quake struck near Chile, hurling tsunami swells of up to 75 feet high against the country’s coastline. The floodwaters penetrated more than a quarter-of-a-mile inland and at least 200 people died. But the worst wasn’t over. The tsunami raced outward from the quake site, crossing the Pacific at jetliner speeds. Six thousand miles away in Hawaii, officials began to broadcast warnings that the tsunami was due around midnight. It struck hardest at Hilo, where a 35-foot wall of water snuffed out a power plant and swept away more than 60 people. Overall, up to 3,000 people died along the Pacific Rim that day.

Prior to the Indian Ocean tsunami, the most recent devastating tsunami struck Papua New Guinea on July 17, 1998. Sparked by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck off the coast, it sent 30-foot waves crashing into seaside villages, killing more than 2,000 people. Papua New Guinea, like Indonesia, is within the “Ring of Fire,” an area in the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes are almost a daily occurrence.

Today, partly as a result of these historic disasters, some nations have established a tsunami warning system monitoring the Pacific Ocean. It is activated within moments of a potentially dangerous earthquake or landslide. Several countries affected by the 2004 tsunami are now working on a system for the Indian Ocean. Although the Pacific Ocean warning system has saved many lives, tsunamis remain difficult to predict, in part because the seafloor’s topography can steer them in surprising ways. Tsunamis are one of nature’s least predictable and most dangerous events.

Researchers have learned a great deal about how this curious creature could make such a phenomenal voyage. Some of the most valuable information was gained from a single voyage. Scientist Wallace J. Nichols released the captive loggerhead turtle, Adelita, into the Pacific a decade ago. Over the course of a year, Adelita did what no sea turtle had ever done before, she took researchers and turtle enthusiasts along on her journey, to her beach, to nest. Since then, researchers have shed much light on how sea turtles like loggerheads navigate the astounding trip. One of the more fascinating aspects of this navigation is the turtle’s use of magnetic mapping to chart its course.

To order a copy of Voyage of the Lonely Turtle, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Voyage of the Lonely Turtle was originally posted April 2007.

Some 300 miles off Costa Rica is Cocos Island, a tiny Pacific outpost that was once a favorite haunt of pirates. Cocos, a designated World Heritage Site, lies directly in the path of powerful ocean currents that often collide with the island, churning the waters into an undersea storm.

These swirling currents carry rich nutrients to a reef teeming with brilliantly colored marine life. Residents include moray eels, hawksbill turtles, leatherbass, bigeye jacks, red-lipped batfish, yellow barberfish, hogfish, and sea urchins, to name only a few.

The currents bring more than algae to this island paradise. They also summon an extraordinary abundance of sharks, providing a golden opportunity to observe some of the most surprising and baffling shark behavior ever captured on film. The volume and variety of sharks that visit Cocos on a regular basis is staggering, and includes huge numbers of silkies, hammerheads, black-tip reef sharks, white-tip reef sharks, silver-tip reef sharks, whale sharks, and their distant cousins, the marbled rays.

A team of expert and intrepid divers, led by renowned underwater film specialists Howard and Michele Hall, leads viewers into this ultimate domain of sharks.

To order a copy of Shark Mountain, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Shark Mountain was originally posted November 2004.

In Sharkland, you’ll learn why species that are normally found oceans apart converge in this one relatively small stretch of coastline, and you’ll be introduced to many of these unique animals, including the catsharks of the Agulhas Bank a 155-mile-wide stretch of shallow warm seas off the southeastern tip of the continent, Southern Africa’s richest fishing grounds. You’ll also explore nature’s most extreme sharks – the fastest, fiercest, smallest, and strongest – and discover the innovative adaptations that have made the Great White such an efficient killing machine.

To order a copy of Sharkland, please visit the Nature Shop.

Online content for Sharkland was originally posted May 2007.

Imagine coming face to face with a cannibalistic creature that is as tall as you are and has long tentacles, a razor-sharp beak, and skin that flashes with bizarre, dazzling color. NATURE’s Encountering Sea Monsters does just that, as underwater cameraman Bob Cranston explores the remarkable world of marine creatures called cephalopods. Cephalopods include squids, cuttlefish, octopi, and nautili.

Cranston and top marine scientists dive in waters from Indonesia and Mexico to Australia and Texas, meeting up with a variety of cephalopods — from the tiny but deadly blue-ringed octopus to the giant Humboldt squid, known for its aggressive behavior, flashing light shows, and cannibalism.

Join Bob Cranston as he fearlessly reaches out and interacts with some of the ocean’s most fascinating life forms.

To order a copy of Encountering Sea Monsters, visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for Encountering Sea Monsters was originally posted December 2005.

Antarctica. On the surface, it’s the bleakest of lands, with ferocious winds, flightless birds, and enough ice to flood half the planet’s population if it were to melt. But below that frozen mass, a fantastic environment of indescribable beauty teems with life. NATURE takes viewers into the world that is Under Antarctic Ice. Buy the DVD. This film premiered January 12, 2003.

Join Hardy Jones in his crusade to protect dolphins in NATURE’s The Dolphin Defender.

Nearly three decades ago, filmmaker Hardy Jones became fascinated by wild dolphins. Even though many said it couldn’t be done, he set out to film these sleek sea mammals in the open ocean. Along the way, he became closely involved with his subjects and came to appreciate dolphins as highly intelligent creatures worthy of careful protection.

Eventually, Jones turned his camera into a tool for conservation. He filmed dramatic dolphin hunts, and the documentary footage made headlines and sparked international protests. Jones also discovered the effects of chemical pollution on dolphins and orcas, the largest species of dolphin. He came to realize that threats to these marine mammals were threats to the ocean itself, and to us all.

Now, in NATURE’s The Dolphin Defender, Jones shares some of his most dramatic and beautiful images, and tells the moving personal story of his journey into the world of dolphins. It is a memorable voyage revealed with the energy and elegance of the dolphins themselves.

To order a copy of The Dolphin Defender, please visit the NATURE Shop.

Online content for The Dolphin Defender was originally posted May 2005.

Background:
Sharks and their biological cousins, the rays, are among the highest-profile denizens of the deep. But sharks are not the solitary killing machines that popular movies and the press might have us believe. In their marine environment, sharks coexist with numerous other species – many of whom flock to be near the sharks, rather than running from them in fear. These excerpts from the NATURE episode “The Secret World of Sharks and Rays” examine the interrelationships between sharks and other marine species. In many of these cases, the interaction between two different species mutually benefits each species. But humans, too, have become an increasingly important player in the lives of sharks – and as they are increasingly hunted for their fins, sharks are actually becoming more endangered than they are dangerous. The impact on the marine ecosystem that would result from the disappearance of sharks would be devastating, but there is still time to save these magnificent creatures, and the ecosystems that depend on their existence.

Suggested focus questions:

Clip 1: Shark and Turtle

1. How does the turtle protect itself?
2. What relationship is held between the tiger shark and the loggerhead turtle?

Clip 2: Unlikely Travel Companions

1. List three ways in which being near a shark might be beneficial to a fish.
2. What is one way that a shark might benefit from a fish (other than as prey)?
3. Classify each shark-fish relationship shown in this clip as commensalism, mutualism, or parasitism.

Clip 3: Sharks and Fishermen

1. How have sharks become trained to follow fishermen?
2. Describe how the following species pairs interact in the clip: fishermen/fish; sharks/fish; sharks/fishermen.

Clip 4: Collapse of Sharks

1. Why are shark populations in danger of collapse?
2. How has the relationship between sharks and humans changed over time?
3. What might happen if the shark fin trade continues unchecked?

Clip 5: Sharks in our Future

1. Describe the type of tourism seen in this clip.
2. What benefit do these businesses provide to: sharks? To local populations? To tourists?
3. How might these businesses help prevent the collapse of shark populations?

Downloadable QuickTime versions of the video segments:
(Note: To download a video, right-click on the video title and click “Save Link As…” or “Save Target As…”. On a Mac, press the CTRL key and simultaneously click the mouse, then save the link.)

Clip 1: “Shark and Turtle”

Clip 2: “Unlikely travel companions”

Clip 3: “Sharks and fishermen”

Clip 4: “Collapse of sharks”

Clip 5: “Sharks in our future“