Researcher Profile: Jeremey Horowitz

By Olivia Belshaw

Meet Jeremy Horowitz, the On-Board Biologist.

Jeremy’s main role is sorting, preserving and identifying all invertebrate life collected during any dredging activity throughout the voyage. All samples are sealed in bags with high grade ethanol to preserve them. Samples that have tissue present (i.e. the invertebrates were alive prior to being opportunistically “dredged”) are sampled for DNA, which will be analysed on-shore.

Qualifications and experience

Jeremy is a PhD candidate at James Cook University in Townsville. He has been studying the taxonomy of deep-sea corals for the past three years, specialising in black corals. In addition, Jeremy is affiliated with the museum of Tropical Queensland. Through his work with the museum, he provides curatorial assistance by identifying deep sea species that have not yet been identified using appropriate taxonomy. In particular, Jeremy has highly specialist knowledge of deep sea black corals, as he was taught by the global black coral expert Dr Dennis Opresko, from the Smithsonian.

Why is his work important?

People tend to study ecosystems that are easy to study – shallow waters, populated coral reefs etc. This results in sample bias – scientists know more about the top 10m of the oceans than any other part of the marine environment. The dep sea however comprises over 95% of the ocean and is the largest habitat in the world. Yet the deep sea is the ecosystem we have the least knowledge about.

Joining research voyages like the RV Investigator voyage to the Coral Sea allows Jeremy to obtain a variety of samples from the deep sea and thus overcome some knowledge gaps in scientific understanding of biodiversity. Jeremy believes that increasing this knowledge of biodiversity and ecosystems, particularly in areas of taxonomy and species distribution, means that scientists can work closely with stakeholders and policy makers to develop more effective strategies for conservation. As scientists gather more information, more effective and informed decision making can occur, resulting in the development of appropriate conservation strategies.

What’s the most amazing this you have seen at sea so far on this voyage?

Jeremy says the discovery of glass sponges in a dredge sample has been the most interesting find so far. Glass sponges are extremely rare and are curious creatures – they are not quite animals, nor fungi or plants. Jeremey describes them as biologically “weird”. Glass sponges have existed for over 80 million years and have not altered much throughout the course of history. These curious creatures produce neurotoxins and possible anti-cancer agents, and scientists are keen to find out more about them.

What skills do you believe people need to thrive on a research voyage such as this one?

First and foremost, Jeremy says it is important you don’t get sea-sick! It’s important to be flexible, as things change every day, and dredges are dependent on a variety of factors including wind speed and swell. Given that everyone is confined to a ship for an extended period of time, it is essential people are friendly, accommodating, resilient and have a good sense of humour! The work is hard but very rewarding.

This job is perfect for someone who…

Is inquisitive and has a questioning mind. This particular area of research is pure science – it is at the forefront of discovery. Very little is known about the deep sea and there are so many species yet to discover and so many questions to answer.