It’s February, the month of love and there’s love in the deep ocean too. We talk reproductive strategies in the deep sea with Professor Craig Young, Dr Autun Purser and Dr Mike Vecchione. How do you find a mate in the sparsely populated deep ocean? How can egg and sperm meet when you are fixed growing on a rock? How can your babies disperse and find a suitable habitat, especially if you live in a rare habitat like a hydrothermal vent? We find the solutions to all these problems and more.

We also have our regular contributors. Dr Don Walsh shares how a dolphin entourage isn’t a good thing if you’re trying to be a quiet and sneaky sub. Larkin also shares how it’s difficult to keep romance on the DL when you live in the tight confines of a ship, people do love to gossip.

In recent news, we announce the launch of Alan’s Deep-Sea Research centre but get distracted by the retired yob of a bird, the Kookaburra. We also consider starting a side-hustle selling dirty deep-sea bottled water and discuss a massive icefish nesting ground found in Antarctica.

We answer Maya’s listener question, ‘are there deep-sea-sons?’ Do they even know it is the month of romance?

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Abyssal plain – the wide-open spaces of the deep sea, most of the planet

Filter feeder – animal that feeds by filtering the water e.g., sponge

Gametes – the reproductive cells, eggs and sperm

Gonad – the organ that produces the gametes

Hadal trench – the deep-sea trenches more than 6 km deep

Hermaphrodite – both male and female simultaneously

Sessile – animals that cannot move (opposite of mobile)

Launch of Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre

Deep-Ocean bottled water

First humans to the bottom of the Atacama Trench

Massive icefish breeding ground paper

Seasons in the Abyss by Slayer

Ecosystems of the World – Craig has a great chapter on reproduction in this book

Paper - Estimating dispersal distance in the deep sea: challenges and applications to marine reserves

Paper - Reproduction, Larval Biology, and Recruitment of the Deep-Sea Benthos

Paper - Hadal snailfish reproduction

Larkin’s YouTube channel My Salty Sea Life

Theme – Hadal Zone Express by Märvel

Logo image

Deep-sea Lizardfish, Bathysaurus ferox

Icefish nests