Filming with CBBC

Today we filmed an episode of Naomi’s Nightmares in Nature, a BBC children’s show that teachs kids that the natural world is not as creepy as they might at first think.

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Discussing the days filming plans and scouting spots for the opening shot

MBARI has one of the most extensive collections of deep-sea animals in the world, housed in the Necropiscatorium (‘dead fish room’)

necropiscatorium

 

Here are some of the examples of gnarly critters we talked about

Anoplogaster
Fangtooth, Anoplogaster cornuta
Benthalbella
Pearleye, Benthalbella sp
Vampyroteuthis
Vampire squid, Vampyroteuthis infernalis – not a vampire or a squid
Stigmatoteuthis
Cock-eyed squid, Stigmatoteuthis dofleini

True, they don’t look particularly nice preserved in a jar, but they are all quite beautiful (in their own deep-sea way) in their natural habitat.

We also built a very small and simple submersible that the show’s host has to fly through a hula hoop in MBARI’s test tank. Flying ROVs and collecting animals with them is not as easy as it looks!

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Setting up the submersible at the test tank