Alvin, the Deep Sea Research Sub, Has Spread Invasive Species in the Ocean

Alvin during a deep sea mission.

As humans venture out to new corners of the world, so do invasive species. This story is old: mice hid out on Viking boats

, plant seeds followed scientists to Antarctica

, and, now, limpets

have hitched a ride on the deep sea submersible Alvin. This last finding, published

in Conservation Biology, surprised scientists, who didn't think that limpets could survive drastic pressure changes as Alvin surfaced between dives. Since 1964,

Alvin,

the little sub that could, has made thousands of scientific dives---from surveying the Titanic to exploring hydrothermal vents. The sub and its sampling gear are cleaned between each dive, but this new limpet discovery suggests a mistake happened somewhere down the line. Scientists on a dive mission in 2004 collected 38 limpets hundreds of miles from their known range and far from the hydrothermal vents where they usually live. A closer look ...