Portraits of the deep
Some seriously fascinating creatures can be found at the University of Aberdeen today and they are expected to reel in the crowds.
PhD student Nicola King is staging a photo exhibition of rarely seen marine life normally only glimpsed many leagues beneath the sea.
Portraits of the Deep is a display of pictures of deep-sea sharks and fish from the North-east Atlantic Ocean found at depths of 1000m. The images were taken during a two-week scientific cruise and were captured by a camera attached to a frame called the ROBIO lander. The camera was pre-programmed to take images once every minute.
Mackerel was attached to the lander on the end of a "bait arm" to mimic a natural food fall from the surface layers of the ocean. The smell attracted scavenging animals, such as fish and sharks that live on and around the seafloor.
Nicola, who is based at the University's Oceanlab, said: "These images are extremely exciting as it shows what a wealth of life there is in the deep-sea. I'm very proud to be involved in staging this exhibition and making these images accessible to the public ".
This is Oceanlab's first photography exhibition and it is sponsored by Aberdeen graphics design provider Lighthouse and the city's Kongsberg Maritime which supplied the high-resolution digital camera used on the cruise.
Portraits of the Deep is open to the public and is on display for a fortnight from today in the foyer of the University's Zoology department. It then moves to the Zoology Museum where it can be seen until October 23.