Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘Underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean may be home to 20 new species’ 

golden coral

A golden coral (Chrysogorgia) shelters deep-sea species like the Calliaster seastar and the yellow, gelatinous Lyrocteis ctenophore, or comb jelly. The squat lobster (Uroptychus sp.) is possibly a newly discovered species. Oceanographers used a robot to photograph these animals while exploring an underwater mountain off the coast of Chile.

ROV SuBastian / Schmidt Ocean Institute

By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘Underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean may be home to 20 new species’ 

SCIENCE 

Before Reading:

  1. What are some challenges of studying life in the ocean that we do not encounter on land? What are some ways that we overcome such obstacles?
  2. To what extent do you think it’s important to discover new species? We live in a time of rapid climate change. How does climate change affect the importance of documenting new species? Explain your answer.

During Reading:

  1. After reading the story, define a seamount. Then compare your definition to the one given at the end of the online version of the story in the Power Words section. What is one common way that a seamount forms?
  2. What type of organism do the golden-yellow zoanthids reside on? Use the Power Words at the end of the digital story to explain how this life-form creates habitats for species.
  3. Explain the inspiration behind the Casper octopus’s informal name.
  4. Explain why the discovery of the Casper octopus surprised researchers.
  5. What made this expedition’s finding of a Promachoteuthis squid different from previous findings?
  6. Describe the sea toad’s unusual use of its pectoral fins. Use the Power Words at the end of the online version of the story to explain where on the fish the pectoral fins are located.
  7. What could be considered surprising about the structure of a siphonophore?

After Reading:

  1. “Only the ocean remains as the last great unexplored portion of our globe; so it is to the sea that man must turn to meet the last great challenge of exploration this side of outer space.” This quote comes from H. B. Stewart’s 1996 book Deep Challenge, on page 13. In your own words, explain what this quote means. To what extent does this quote relate to this story? Briefly explain your answer.
  2. Besides seamounts, what is another habitat that might harbor undiscovered forms of life? Describe this place to the best of your knowledge. Then, speculate about forms of life that might reside there. Feel free to be creative! Pick one of your ideas and explain how this fictional life-form would be suited to this environment.