Valdivia Expedition
The Valdivia Expedition, or Deutsche Tiefsee-Expedition (German Deep Sea Expedition), was a scientific expedition organised and funded by the
In the mid-19th century most scientists adhered to the
Conception and preparation
Chun proposed to the
The ship, the
Chun was the overall leader of the expedition.[3] A captain of whaling ships, Adalbert Krech, was appointed the ship's captain while the navigator was Walter Sachse who was an employee of HAPAG's. The scientific staff was made up of the botanist Professor W. Schimper of Bonn, the zoologists Carl Apstein, Ernst Vanhöffen and Fritz Braem, the oceanographer Gerhardt Schott, the chemist Paul Schmidt and Dr M. Bathman who was a bacteriologist and the expedition's doctor, who died on the voyage. August Brauer and Otto zur Strassen who were zoologists by profession and Fritz Winter who was an artist and photographer, but these had no official status recorded.[2]
The Voyage
The Valdivia set sail from
The Valdivia was among the Antarctic ice for almost four weeks in November and December 1898 in the sea between
The Valdivia returned to Hamburg on 30 April 1899.[3]
Publication of results
The main aims of the expedition were to collect as many biological specimens as they could while focussing on how organisms adapted to the extreme conditions of the environment of the deep oceans. One result of this was that a number of anatomical studies of light organs were carried out. One of the best known publications is Volume 15: Die Tiefsee-Fische by Brauer which has an editorial review by Chun consisting of a systematic and anatomical study of the deep sea fish specimens they collected on their voyage aboard the Valvidia which were illustrated by Friedrich Wilhelm Winter. Winter's illustrations make it clear that these deep sea fish are heavily reliant on senses other than their vision. Many are bioluminescent and in numbers these animals have the effect of making the deep, dark sea look like a night sky filled with stars.[4]
The expeditions findings took 4 decades to be published, and they were published in 24 volumes as Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition auf dem Dampfer "Valdivia" 1898–1899 (Scientific results of the German deep-sea expedition on the steamer "Valdivia" 1898–1899). Another much admired volume is Chun's own Die Cephalopoden in which Chun describes the vampire squid Vampyroteuthis infernalis the scientific name meaning "the vampire squid from hell".[4] The type specimen was collected on the expedition.[6]
Gallery
Here is a sample of some of the plates from Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse der Deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition auf dem Dampfer "Valdivia" 1898–1899:
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Mastigoteuthis cordiformis
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Vampyroteuthis infernalis
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Opisthoproctus soleatus
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Various Stomiidae
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The front cover of Chun's account of the expedition
References
- JSTOR 1774523.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 1576074226.
- ^ a b c Jacqueline Ford (2012). "Book of the Week: The Vadivia Expedition Deep sea dredging in the twilight zone with Teuthologist Carl Chun". Notes and News from BHL Staff. Biodiversity Heritage Library. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- ^ "Aus den Tiefen des Weltmeeres: Schilderungen von der Deutschen Tieffee-Expedition - From the Depths of the World Sea: Descriptions of the German Deep Sea Expedition)". NOAA. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
- ^ "Introducing Vampyroteuthis infernalis, the vampire squid from Hell". The Cephalopod Page. Dr. James B. Wood. Retrieved 3 April 2017.