The Heart of the Bering Sea Beats with Discovery

It’s hard to get a big smile out of Ken Lowyck, Greenpeace’s capable Action Unit Coordinator (and sub pilot) based in Toronto. I snapped the photo to the right and captured Ken’s pre-dive excitement last summer on August 1, just minutes before he was launched on the dive to 700 feet in Pribilof Canyon in the Bering Sea that resulted in one of the expedition’s most important discoveries. I imagine the modest smile that appeared on his face has returned today as Greenpeace has announced that the tiny, unassuming white sponge he retrieved on that dive was never before documented by Homo sapiens, and may well herald future announcements of other new species from the expedition. The sponge was named Aaptos kanuux, the word “kanuux” being the Aleut word for “heart,” in honor of the Bering Sea’s canyons, considered to be the heart of the Bering Sea by the region’s natives who depend on their font of life to sustain their way of life. It was also the first time the genus Aaptos has ever been documented in the Bering Sea. The painstaking work of analyzing hours and hours of video and hundreds of retrieved samples continues and will likely continue for years, as science soldiers on. I’m certain we can expect more dramatic news as the effort continues.

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