Thursday, April 9, 2009

Day 9 R/V Point Sur Part 1

This morning was cloudy and chilly. Today will be the first day Nicole deploys her hook contraption. Her goal is to catch sharks and/or skates. This is her first every deployment. We are very hopeful that it will be successful.







There will be two 1000 meter trawls today. All the trawls before today were with the otter trawl, but from now on it will be with the beam trawl. The beam trawl is designed for deeper trawls.



Mariah and Shaara get ready to separate the fish.



Here are pictures of a beautiful sea star.





This is a sea cucumber, but it's often called a "sea pig". I think they are so cute. I am bringing three of them back to school with me. =)



Look how little these crabs are compared to the fish. They are so tiny with many spines all over their body and legs.






This is the rat tail. They are very common in this area and can grow to be extremely large.



Donna is about to dissect the rat tail and take tissue samples.



=)



“This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0727135. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).”
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18 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 10, 2009 at 1:23 AM

    Hi Michelle,

    Tell your colleagues thanks for the answers. I'm having a good time following you and the adventures of the research team.

    Okay, now for today's pictures. How deep was the "basket" that pulled in the star fish, the cucumbers and the rat tail? The rat tail has very large eyes---is this because he lives so deep in the ocean? It looks like he has a lot of very small, but sharp teeth. What does he eat? Why are his tissue samples important?

    Does the sea pig request "more cheese"?

    I can only imagine how excited you are about the sharks! How big might the samples be? How deep is the "basket" sent to obtain the shark samples? What type of samples will be taken from the sharks?

    Good luck w/ the sharks!

    Mom

    PS is the Skate's circulatory system made up of venous and atrial blood?

    ReplyDelete
  2. DeepBluSea25April 10, 2009 at 2:23 PM

    The trawl net went to the seafloor at 1000 meters. Yes, the rat tail is a big fish that has big eyes for the deep ocean. In the deep sea is a low light environment. Big eyes might help them to capture any light that is available. Rat tails are scavengers. They eat a lot of little worms and shrimp. When they get bigger they eat fish, squid, and fishery discards. The Giant Rat Tails are not scavengers like the Pacific Rat Tails. The Giants eat larger fish. We collect white muscle, red muscle, heart, liver, and brain tissue from the fish. All the samples will be tested and analyzed. It will show the metabolism and energy needed for locomotion.

    In regards to the hook contraption, the hooks are fairly big so it would likely catch bigger sharks, such as a meter or longer. There are smaller sharks out there that are only a foot long like cat sharks or dogfish.

    Yes, the heart consists of two main chambers, the auricle and the ventricle. The pumping is much like you would imagine in other animals. For more information see this website on a great white shark heart:

    http://www.elasmoresearch.org/education/white_shark/heart.htm.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MomApril 10, 2009 at 7:25 PM

    Hi Michelle,

    Thanks for the answers. I'll check out the site for sharks.

    What is white muscle? What is it comparable to in the human? Interesting sample selection for measuring metabolic needs.

    Thanks again,
    Mom

    ReplyDelete
  4. gloria and CassieApril 13, 2009 at 1:55 PM

    keep up the good work ms.kay!
    i hope you guys discover new species from te deep sea!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 15, 2009 at 11:55 AM

    i like the spiky crab,and i like the fish with big teeth

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousApril 15, 2009 at 12:37 PM

    WOW Ms.Kay!! The rat tail fish is COOL! oh, and the spiky crabs are really unique!! BUH-BYE ms.kay!!

    -nory ann & hazel
    -Pd.5

    ReplyDelete
  7. Viranard and benApril 15, 2009 at 12:41 PM

    hey ms.kay very cool stuff

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousApril 15, 2009 at 1:35 PM

    Jenny,Sanita,Period 6

    Wat up Ms.Kay!!!!!!!! How you doin? How do you guys know so much about all of this?

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousApril 15, 2009 at 1:45 PM

    Harold Pd:6

    Wat up Ms.Kay. i was wondering. how many crabs did u guys catch?

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousApril 15, 2009 at 3:03 PM

    Lilyana Period:1


    Mrs.kay please bring that thing you had in your hand to school please bye.

    ReplyDelete
  11. allysah and yasmine pd.4September 22, 2009 at 2:00 PM

    the rat tail is scary but only the face

    ReplyDelete
  12. BJ & JOSHUA PD4$4$4$$4$44$$September 22, 2009 at 2:04 PM

    i want to see the sea pig in real life

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bj & Joshua pd4September 22, 2009 at 2:05 PM

    What does the rat tail fish/creature do?

    ReplyDelete
  14. annalynn pd.6September 22, 2009 at 4:14 PM

    the little crabs are so adorable!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. gailSeptember 22, 2009 at 4:22 PM

    gail from period 6 said.....
    man those little crabs looks cute i wish i have
    a crab like that but i don't know if its gonna bite
    me

    ReplyDelete
  16. raymond Per.1September 22, 2009 at 9:37 PM

    it's cool!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. eseSeptember 22, 2009 at 11:51 PM

    are you really bringing the sea pigs ? i get so excited about this !

    ReplyDelete
  18. ese and aress per.1September 23, 2009 at 3:52 PM

    hi mrs.kay i love the cute cucumber things aress says they look squishy

    ReplyDelete

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