Day 4 Kilo Moana

The trap that was sent down on Friday, resurfaced on Saturday morning. In the trap were enormous spiky red crabs, three eels, and some shrimp. Dr. Drazen took measurements and recorded all the information for everything that was captured.

Later in the day, the camera resurfaced. The same technique was used to recover the camera. There were four people along the left side of the ship. They had to throw the hook and rope over the edge to hook the line. Remember, this is called grappling. After the camera was back on board, it was time to check out the pictures that were taken near the trap. Unfortunately the strobe light didn't work, so the photos that were taken, were all black.

Yesterday was the last day to cast one more CTD for water samples. There were a few more plankton tows as well. Kelley, the one who works at the Waikiki Aquarium, did her own two tows. She needed one tow to be close to the surface, and another tow to go down 60 meters. Again, she was looking for jellyfish or any other interesting fish to take back to the Waikiki Aquarium to research and possibly use for a future exhibit.

The last night deep tow was awesome!! The net captured a squid, a big red jellyfish, and other fish. I liked the squid the best because of its eyes. One eye looks like a normal eye, but the other eye was bulged out. The squid uses the normal eye to look downward for food, while the bulged eye looks up. I never knew this before! Unfortunately, the red jellyfish fell apart while being captured in the towing net.







Today, we unloaded all the equipment and specimens that were separated, classified, and preserved. After unloading everything, it was off to the University of Hawaii to put it all in the labs.

This research cruise was amazing!! As I said before, everyone was so nice and generous with their time to teach me. They all made me feel apart of their team. I would like to thank the crew, Professors, Grad. students, & everyone else for a wonderful trip. I have made many new friends.

=)

P.S. I forgot to also thank the cooks!!! Thanks for always making such delicious food, cookies & cakes!!! =)