After extensive analysis of the data obtained during the Iatá-Piúna project, carried out in a collaborative manner between Brazilian research institutes and Japan's JAMSTEC, many discoveries were made about the deep sea environment of the Southwest Atlantic.
In the geological part, the main discoveries were the presence of iron-manganese crusts on the seafloor, and also a fossilized beakead whale skull found in one of the dives at São Paulo Ridge. The fossil was identified as a new extinct species of the Africanacetus genus, and like the iron-manganese crusts, had its age estimated at more than 5 million years.
Iron-Manganese crust found in the ocean floor by the submersible Shinkai (left) and the collected fossil of a beaked whale skull, already in the laboratory, for a computed tomography (right).
In the biological area, several new deep-sea organisms have been described, including sea sponges, echinoderms, gastropods and annelid worms. LAMP had an important and active participation in this process, working on the discovery of new species of annelid worms of the families Capitellidae, Hesionidae, Nereididae, Siboglinidae and Sphaerodoridae, as well as gastropods of the genus Rubyspira.
From left to right: annelid worms Neanthes sp. (family Nereididae), Osedax sp. (family Siboglinidae) and Sphaerodoropsis sp. (family Sphaerodoridae) and the gastropod Rubyspira sp.
However, perhaps the most important result of the Iatá-Piúna Project in Brazil was the discovery of a natural whale carcass on the ocean floor, found by Professor Paulo Sumida 4,204m deep in one of the dives at São Paulo Ridge. This was only the eighth natural carcass found in the ocean throughout history, and the deepest one ever discovered until today. LAMP, together with JAMSTEC, was ahead of the works regarding this discovery so important for the understanding of the deep sea environment in the South Atlantic Ocean. Among the studies carried out, some already published and others still in preparation, we highlight the study of the structure of the benthic community found both around the carcass and within the whale bones, the description of some new species and a great increase in the distribution of others which were found for the first time in the Atlantic Ocean.
Whale fall found by Professor Paulo Sumida 4204 m deep aboard the submersible Shinkai 6500, in one of the dives at São Paulo Ridge.
Published articles:
Cavalett, A., da Silva, M.A.C., Toyofuku, T., Mendes, R., Taketani, R.G., Pedrini, J., Freitas, R.C., Sumida, P.Y.G., Yamanaka, T., Nagano, Y., Pellizari, V.H., Perez, J.A.A., Kitazato, H., Lima, A.O., 2017. Dominance of Epsilonproteobacteria associated with a whale fall at a 4204m deep –South Atlantic Ocean. Deep-sea Res. II. 146, 53-58. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.10.012. (PDF)
Freire, A.F.M., Iemini, J.A., Viana, A.R., Magnavita, L.P., Dehler, N.M., Kowsmann, R.O., Miller, D.J., Diniz, S.H., Bezerra, G., Zerfass, G. de S. dos A., Shimabukuro, S., Nóbrega II, M.,2017. A giant oil seep at a salt-induced escarpment of the São Paulo Plateau, Espírito Santo Basin, off Brazil: Host rock characteristics and geochemistry. Deep-sea Res. II, 146, 45-52. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.06.001. (PDF)
Fujikura, K., Yamanaka, T., Sumida, P.Y.G., Bernardino, A.F., Pereira, O.S., Kanehara, T., Nagano, Y., Nakayama, C.R., Nobrega II, M., Pellizari, V.H., Shigeno, S., Yoshida, T., Zhang, J., Kitazato, H., 2017. Discovery of asphalt seeps in the deep Southwest Atlantic off Brazil. Deep-Sea Res. Part II, 146, 35-44. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.04.002. (PDF)
Goto, K.T., Nozaki, T., Toyofuku, T., Augustin, A.H., Shimoda, G., Chang, Q., Kimura, J.I., Kameo, K., Kitazato, H., Suzuki, K., 2017. Paleoceanographic conditions on the São Paulo Ridge, SW Atlantic Ocean, for the past 30 million years inferred from Os and Pb isotopes of a hydrogenous ferromanganese crust. Deep Sea Res. II, 146, 82-92. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.10.010. (PDF)
Hadju, E., Castello-Branco, C., Lopes, D.A., Perez, J.A.A., Sumida, P.Y.G., Fujiwara, Y., 2017. Deep-sea dives reveal an unexpected hexactinellid sponge garden on the Rio Grande Rise (SW Atlantic). A mimicking ecosystem? Deep-sea Res. II, 146. (PDF)
Ichishima, H., Augustin, A.H., Kitazato, H., Toyofuku, T., 2017, A new species of Africanacetus (Odontoceti: Ziphiidae) found on the deep ocean floor off Brazil. Deep-sea Res. II 146, 68-81. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2016.12.002. (PDF)
Martinez, M.I., et al., 2017. A new species of brooding Psolidae (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) from deep-sea off Argentina, Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Deep-sea Res. II 146, 13-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.05.007. (PDF)
Nagano, Y., Miura, T., Nishi, S., Lima, A.O., Nakayama, C., Pellizari, V.H., Fujikura, K., 2017. Fungal diversity in deep-sea sediments associated with asphalt seeps at the São Paulo Plateau. Deep-Sea Res. Part II, 146, 59-67. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.05.012. (PDF)
Nozaki, T., Takaya, Y., Toyofuku, T., Tokumaru, A., Goto, K.T., Chang, Q., Kimura, Q.J.I., Kato, Y., Suzuki, K., Augustin, A.H., Kitazato, H., 2017. Depositional age of a fossil whale bone from São Paulo Ridge, South Atlantic Ocean, based on Os isotope stratigraphy of a ferromanganese crust. Resour. Geol. DOI: 10.1111/rge.12138. (PDF)
Shimabukuro, M., Rizzo, A.E., Alfaro-Lucas, J.M., Fujiwara, Y., Sumida, P.Y.G., 2017a. Sphaerodoropsis kitazatoi, a new species and the first record of Sphaerodoridae (Annelida: Phyllodocida) in abyssal sediments around a whale carcass. Deep-sea Res. II. 146, 18-26. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.04.003. (PDF)
Shimabukuro, M., Santos, C.S., Alfaro-Lucas, J.M., Fujiwara, Y. Sumida, P.Y.G., 2017b. A new eyeless species of Neanthes (Annelida: Nereididae) associated with a whale-fall community from the deeps southwest Atlantic Ocean. Deep-sea Res. II. 146, 27-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2017.10.013. (PDF)
Sumida, P.Y.G., Alfaro-Lucas, J.M., Shimabukuro, M., Kitazato, H., Perez, J.A.A., Soares-Gomes, A., Toyofuku, T., Lima, A.O.S., Ara, K., Fujiwara, Y., 2016. Deep-sea whale fall fauna from the Atlantic resembles that of the Pacific Ocean. Sci. Rep. 6, 22139. DOI: 10.1038/srep22139. (PDF)
Takahashi, K., Sakai, K., Nagano, Y., Orui Sakaguchi, S., Lima, A.O., Pellizari, V.H., Iwatsuki, M., Takishita, K., Nonaka, K., Fujikura, K., Ōmura, S., 2017. Cladomarine, a new antisaprolegniasis isolated from the deep-sea fungus, Penicillium coralligerum YK-247. J. Antibiotics. DOI: 10.1038/ja.2017.58. (PDF)