Sandrine Ceurstemont, editor, New Scientist TV
We no longer have to imagine elephant seals feasting in the deep sea. An underwater camera has filmed one slurping up a hagfish, the first sighting of seal predation on the sea floor.
The event was captured by a Neptune Canada live video stream in the north-east Pacific Ocean and spotted by a teenager who was watching the feed. Marine mammal experts later identified the moustached face in the corner of the frame as an elephant seal, one of the few seal species that spends most of its time underwater. In this case, it was observed at a depth of 894 metres, but the animals can descend more than 1500 metres below the surface, holding their breath for longer than 100 minutes.
The sighting shows the value of citizen science: Steven Mihály from Ocean Networks Canada, based in Victoria, British Columbia, says that although data-mining techniques could be used to sift through the reams of underwater video, human observers are still most effective at picking out events of interest.
If you enjoyed this post, see a submerged hippo stay upright in a water tank or watch an underwater volcano spew exotic lava.
Hagfish gulped up in first video of deep-sea seal hunt
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Hagfish gulped up in first video of deep-sea seal hunt
