NSU’s Deep-Sea Donation Bolsters Renowned Fish Collection

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— As the marine research community struggles with a dwindling number of experts capable of accurately identifying deep-sea fish species, Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is taking steps to protect the integrity of marine science. In doing so, NSU’s DEEPEND Consortium has donated more than 1,000 expertly identified deep-sea fish specimens – including species never archived – to Tulane University’s Royal D. Suttkus Collection.

Bolstering Tulane’s collection will help ensure that future DNA fingerprints can be verified against physical samples of one of the world’s most important marine repositories, said NSU researcher Tracey Sutton, the director and principal investigator of the DEEPEND Research Consortium.

“It is absolutely essential that when we publish a DNA fingerprint, we also make the physical specimen that the tissue sample came from publicly available,” Sutton said. “Depositing specimens in an internationally recognized, curated fish collection like Tulane’s, is the best way to verify the accuracy of each identification.”

The NSU specimens were collected aboard the research vessel Point Sur during offshore surveys in the Gulf of Mexico. They include deepwater fish species rarely captured in coastal sampling efforts and 36 species not previously archived in Tulane’s globally recognized natural history collection of more than eight million specimens.

DEEPEND includes more than 140 participants from 22 institutions to date and focuses on  research and stewardship of deep pelagic ecosystems, including understanding the effects of human activities on open-ocean communities. The DEEPEND research team, which includes NSU researchers April Cook, Andrea Bernard, Tammy Frank, David Kerstetter, Rosanna Milligan, and Mahmood Shivji, genetically barcoded about 550 fish species—many for the first time—to confirm identifications and resolve long-standing taxonomic questions.

“Much of the taxonomic literature for deep-sea fish is more than 50 years old, and roughly one of every five species that DEEPEND has collected and identified is a new record for the Gulf,” Sutton said, highlighting the value of making the specimens and their associated genetic data available to taxonomists, ecologists, and fisheries biologists. “Genetic reference libraries are only as good as the physical specimens upon which they’re based, so it was important to us to deposit ours in a carefully curated collection.”

Brian Sidlauskas, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in Tulane’s School of Science and Engineering and director of the Biodiversity Research Institute, worked with Sutton on securing the specimens.

“DEEPEND’s incredibly thorough and accurate inventory has revealed how the biodiversity of the Gulf changes across time and depth, and in response to human-driven impacts,” Sidlauskas said. “The specimens are exquisitely preserved and the DEEPEND team meticulously documented extensive metadata. By archiving these samples in perpetuity, TUBRI can ensure that scientists will be able to discover, access, and study this exceptional collection for decades to come.”

Located in retired World Ward II-era ammunition bunkers on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Belle Chasse, Louisiana, the Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection safeguards millions of preserved organisms dating back to the 1840s.

In 2014, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative awarded a $10 million grant, launching nearly a decade of deep pelagic research. Among DEEPEND’s major findings:

• Pelagic life in the Gulf of Mexico sharply decreased after the Deepwater Horizon spill and has yet to fully recover.
• The deep Gulf is one of the four “hyperdiverse” deep-pelagic ecosystems on Earth.
• The Gulf is an interconnected living system from surface to seafloor and must be studied as a whole rather than a collection of parts.

Sutton describes NSU’s collaboration with Tulane University is an important milestone in deep-pelagic research.

“We’re so pleased these specimens will have a permanent home in Tulane’s legendary collection,” Sutton said. “So much remains unknown about the deep ocean. This collaboration helps ensure that discoveries made today and in the future are preserved and grounded in verifiable science for years to come.”