Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Director Dr. Senzo UchidaWith great pleasure we are publishing this Proceedings of the Deep-Sea International Symposium ofthe Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium which was held here in February, 2007.

The Symposium, entitled “Into the Unknown, Researching Mysterious Deep-Sea Animals” was heldto celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Ocean Expo Commemorative Foundation which manages the Ocean
Expo Park with our Aquarium, and the Shurijo Castle Park, both belonging to the National Government
Park System. We received 16 million visitors at Churaumi Aquarium during the first 6 years after opening,
for an average of 2.67 million visitors per year. In fiscal year 2007 we recorded a total of over 3 million
visitors for the first time.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the researchers who contributed to thisProceedings volume, travelling such a long way to attend the Symposium in Okinawa, and then writing
their contributions for publication here.

Japan consists of four big islands, which, from north to south, are Hokkaido, Honsohu, Shikoku andKyushu. South of these main islands, but still part of Japan, the Nansei (Ryukyu) Archipelago forms an arc
1,200 km long, from Kyushu in the north (31°N) to Taiwan in the south (24°N). Okinawa Island is the mainisland of this Archipelago, and Naha is the southernmost Prefectural capital of Japan. It is 1,500 km fromNaha to Tokyo, about the same distance from Naha to Manila, and 600 km from Naha to Taipei.

The sea around the Ryukyu Archipelago has three distinctive marine environments: the first, coral
reefs surrounding islands; the second, open sea with a big and strong warm current (the Kuroshio); andthird, deep seas (the Ryukyu Trench to the east, and the Okinawa Trough to the west).

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The exhibit concept of our Aquarium is “Travelling in Okinawan Seas”, that is, following a guided
journey to meet the animals living on the shores, in the coral lagoon and reefs, in the open seas of theKuroshio, and in the deep sea.

We have already held two International Symposia, entitled “Elasmobranch Studies, Present
Achievement and Future Advancement” in 2004, and “Recent Advances in Cetology and Sirenology”, in2006. Two of the animal groups presented in those Symposia, the Cetaceans and the Elasmobranchs, aredistributed throughout all three of the environments mentioned above.

However, during those two

Symposia, mostly only animals in the coral reefs and open seas were discussed. Thus, for this Symposium,
we chose the leading characters to be Deep-Sea Animals. Concerning marine wildlife, and especiallydeep-sea marine wildlife, there are still many unknowns, and too many mysteries yet to be solved!

We can only make long-term studies of the physiology and ecology of many deep-sea creatures bykeeping them in captivity. Deep-sea animals, however, are usually both difficult to collect and difficult tokeep in captivity for a long time. Nevertheless, at our Aquarium, we have succeeded in keeping somedeep-sea species for long periods of time, and thus we have been able to study them. At our Deep-Sea
Symposium, our Symposium participants actively discussed a wide range of subjects concerning deep-sea
animals, and especially, included in their discussions the role of aquariums to promote and develop studiesof the deep sea.

With great pleasure we are publishing this Proceedings of the Deep-Sea International Symposium ofthe Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium which was held here in February, 2007.

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Proceedings of an International Symposium

Into the Unknown,
Researching Mysterious Deep-sea Animals
Contents

5 Behavior and habitat selection of deep-sea fishes:a methodological perspective
Franz Uiblein, Fernando Bordes, Pascal Lorance, Jørgen G. Nielsen, David Shale,
Marsh J. Youngbluth & Rupert Wienerroither

22 Observations of mesopelagic large squids in the wildusing recently developed underwater visual equipment
Tsunemi Kubodera

43 Diving and foraging behavior of toothed whales:
Do toothed whales compete for prey in the deep sea?
Yasuhiko Naito & Yoko Mitani

53 Meso- and bathypelagic fish interactions with seamounts andmid-ocean ridges
Tracey T. Sutton, Filipe M. Porteiro, John K. Horne and Cairistiona I. H. Anderson

69 Biology of the Megamouth Shark,
Megachasma pelagios (Lamniformes: Megachasmidae)
Kazuhiro Nakaya

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84 Jewels of the deep sea - Precious Corals
Masanori Nonaka & Katherine Muzik

128 Debunking an urban legend of the deep sea:
The queen of the abyss and her contribution toceratioid anglerfish biology.
Toshiro Saruwatari

137 Using the SGPT chamber for field sampling and long-term
captivity of deep demersal fishes from tropical waters
Keiichi Sato, Atsushi Kaneko & Minoru Toda

144 “Mysteries of the Deep” a temporary exhibit ofdeepwater animals of Monterey Canyon.
Charles Farwell

154 Reprinted abstracts of an International Symposium
Into the Unknown, Researching Mysterious
Deep-Sea Animals, 2007, Okinawa, Japan.

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