Alfredo Aparicio/Staff Writer
Professor Heather Bracken-Grissom
The sea is deep and so are its mysteries; one of these mysteries, however, has been recently solved.
A team, led by Assistant Professor Heather Bracken-Grissom of the Department of Biological Sciences, has recently discovered the connection between a strange larval crustacean and its adult form, a deep-sea shrimp.
Bracken-Grissom, a new hire at the University, who recently finished her post doctoral research in Evolution and Environmental Sciences at Brigham Young University in Utah, and completed her undergraduate studies at the University of California Santa Barbara and her Doctorate at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, used genetic sequencing to find the hidden connection between the specimens.
“To do genetic sequencing we needed a freshly-collected specimen,” explained Bracken-Grissom, “so it’s been a combination of good luck and timing that we had access to both a fresh larval form and adult form to study.”
First observed two hundred years ago, the larval crustacean, sometimes found in the stomach contents of various fish, often damaged and degraded, was originally described as a monstrous and misshapen animal, eventually earning the name Cerataspis monstrosa. As a mid-water organism, living at 200 to 400 meters, it is so small that obtaining specimens have been rare; the adult form, living at depths of about 2000 to 4000 meters, also making it difficult to study.
“It’s been really hard to identify because it’s adult form looks completely different,” explained Bracken-Grissom. “It’s a specimen that has been rarely collected fresh, so having the opportunity to study it, we pursued it and took our research to the next level.”
The fresh larval specimen was found by Nicole Vollmer, a doctoral student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, who was participating on a research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and came upon the larval crustacean while trawling.
“She [Vollmer] brought it back to her university and we then formed a team to identify the mysterious larval creature,” Bracken-Grissom said.
For Bracken-Grissom, the experience of the discovery has been “exciting and rewarding” for the team as well as the marine biology community.
“I think a lot of people think it’s a cool discovery in biodiversity,” said Bracken-Grissom. “It is fun and exciting to solve a mystery that has been ongoing for almost 200 years. It advances our knowledge about exploration and discovery and provides insight into the ecology, life history and distribution of an organism.”
In the near future, Bracken-Grissom will continue to study crabs, lobsters and shrimp and advance the research of the evolution of marine invertebrates. She will also teach genetics starting this upcoming spring semester.
–alfredo.aparicio@fiusm.com
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