Two DEEPENDERS Exploring Ocean Sciences Meeting

Dr. Heather Judkins and her grad student, Claire de Noyo, both presented new DEEPEND research at the 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting in February in New Orleans! Heather shared results from her ongoing cephalopod diet metabarcoding study which helps piece together the complex deep-sea food web of the Gulf of Mexico. Of the 63 individuals analyzed, fishes accounted for the majority of prey items.

Claire is a Conservation Biology master's student at USF St. Petersburg and presented the preliminary findings of her thesis research- also on deep-sea trophic ecology! Claire conducted a stomach content analysis on the Hammerjaw (Omosudis lowii) using 574 preserved DEEPEND specimens, making this project the largest Hammerjaw diet study to date. Findings confirm that Gulf of Mexico Hammerjaws prey primarily on cephalopods. They both found that the conference was interesting and learned so much about other ocean science topics!