Quantitative Photography on the Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope

Photography in the deep sea is placed in the context of other deep-sea research. A brief summary of modern techniques for quantitative photography is given along with a description of the Benthic Underwater Camera System (BUCS). Results obtained using BUCS show that trawl samples may grossly underestimate the abundance of deep-sea fauna. Photographs of tube worms and clams taken on the continental slope off Louisiana may show chemosynthetic communities similar to those found at hydrothermal vents.