Nicole was hoping to hook sharks and/or skates. Instead, she got a lot of rat tail fish. This was her first deployment for this contraption. Even though she didn't hook the fish she wanted, I think she was very successful.
The camera and respirometer were both retrieved in the early evening. They will both be deployed again in the morning.
The last trawl of the day was released at 6:00pm. It took about 2 hours for it to sink to the bottom, and then return to the surface. This was another very successful trawl.
Here we have Shaara showing safety first!! =)
Look at this huge crab!!
If you look closely in the picture below, you can see John holding the little spiny crab from the first trawl over the larger crab's head. I think John said the large crab is how big the little spiny crabs will get. WOW!! =)
As I said before, the rat tail is very common in this area and can grow extremely large. This one is over a meter long!!
Dr. Drazen is about to dissect the rat tail and take samples. The heart was huge!!
Today was a long, fun, and eventful day!!
=)
“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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Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteJust posted a comment on day 5, part 1---
How heavy is the crab? you are holding in the picture? Is this one of the specimens Dr. Drazen wants to study?
In the picture w/ Dr. Drazen holding the rat tail perpendicular to the floor the fish's mid-section looks very bloated. What is this? Is his stomach full? Is this his heart? Is it female and pregnant?
The rat tail looks like a catfish w/o the whiskers.
Can't wait for 04/10/09 pictures!
Mom
PS do you get to dissect?
ms.kay, that was a BIIG crab..
ReplyDelete-nory ann & hazel
-Pd.5
p.s:did the crab bite you guys? or did any one get hurt before from a sea creature during your cruise?
BUH-BYE!! <3
Hi, Nory Ann and Hazel. That was a very good question. Nicole actually did get her fingers hurt from the crab she was trying to measure. The crab clamped down on her fingers with its claws. It looked like it was painful. It was the crab pictured with her holding it on the Day 4 blog page.
ReplyDeleteLuckily she was wearing gloves, so it wasn't too bad. It was funny though because after she got the crab to let go, it had purple material on its claws from the gloves.
=)
what a HUGE crab...WOW!!!!
ReplyDeletecan the rat tail grow 7 yards long ? oh and this is ese !!
ReplyDeletewhat a HUGE crab...WOW!!!!
ReplyDelete