Bill Orsi created this video, which demonstrates the beautiful preservation possible when cells are fixed in situ in their deep-sea habitat before being brought to the surface. It shows a 3-D view, taken with a scanning electron microscope, of Cariacotrichea, a new class of ciliate that he and Ginny Edgcomb discovered in the anoxic Cariaco Basin off the coast of Venezuela. The single-celled protist is completely covered by bacterial symbionts. It was preserved in situ by Deep SID, the smaller of the two water column samplers used on this cruise.
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Microbial ecologist Ginny Edgcomb, Chief Scientist VIEW VIDEO »