Day 3 R/V Point Sur

It was a beautiful morning. Our goal was to first recover the camera. Dr. Drazen and John sent down the acoustic signal to release the weights. It only took a few minutes for it to resurface since it was only at 100 m.





Unfortunately, the camera did not take any pictures. There was a problem with it. The camera has been fixed and hopefully it will work during the next deployment to 200 m. It will be recovered tomorrow morning.

The first otter trawl was released at 11:00 to 200 m. Some fish were caught, but not enough. The second otter trawl also went to 200 m, and again, it was not as successful as we had hoped.



In the first photo, you will see a sea cucumber. The second photo has little polychaete worms. You will also sea small sea star. When we identify the fish, many times we need to use books to help us determine the exact type of fish. The last photo is of a heart urchin sand dollar. I’ll be bringing the sand dollar back to school with me.











During the third and fourth trawl, more wire was sent out and we also went at a slower speed during the trawl. Our trawl catch was still small, but we did get some fish Dr. Drazen needed tissue samples from. In these photos, you will see a beautiful sea star, skate egg cases, spot prawn shrimp, California octopus, box crab, and another crab.



















The longline was deployed today with the hopes of baiting sharks and rays. The short video shows how the longline is released.









The sunset was beautiful tonight. The weather was a little chilly today with some high swells. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow. We got to see many Humpback Whales breaching and tail fluke dives throughout the day. Even a few dolphins were seen cruising in the water.







Around 8:30, the longline was recovered. It did catch a couple of sun stars, but no sharks or rays yet. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow’s longline deployment.





:)



“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).”

Day 2 R/V Point Sur Part 2

This is an electric ray. They have electric organs on their wings that are similar to an electric eel. The ray can send out charges that will sting its prey.







Nicole needs tissue samples from rays and sharks for her Master’s research project. She is studying metabolism and trophic ecology (food web) in sharks, skates, and rays.





John is always hard at work . . .



All the fish from the trawls need to be measured and have the data recorded. Dr. Drazen needs this information to be able to calculate an estimate of the diverse fish population at the different depths. Katie is measuring a sanddab flat fish while Jason records the data.



Some fish from the trawls are dissected and have tissue samples taken from them. Dr. Drazen needs white muscle, red muscle, liver, heart, and brain samples from the fish. The tissue samples will be kept frozen in liquid nitrogen and taken back to Hawaii for testing. Certain tissue samples will help Dr. Drazen to get more information on the fish’s metabolic rate, locomotion and enzyme levels.





Keeping the samples in liquid nitrogen will allow them to be more preserved. Liquid nitrogen is extremely cold. Its temperature is about −196 °C (−321 °F).



Besides the camera, respirometer, and trawls, there will be a longline deployment. Nicole’s longline has 20 baited hooks with squids. She hopes to catch sharks and rays for her research. The longline will be deployed for 5-6 hours. Just like the last cruise, there will be weights at the bottom of the longline with a magnesium dissolving clasp. The magnesium will dissolve within 5-6 hours. After it dissolves, the weights will be released and the longline will begin to resurface.

Once the longline resurfaces, the beacon on the mast will send out a frequency that will be captured by the ship. This will allow us to locate the position of the longline. Only rat tail fish were caught during the last cruise. We are hoping sharks and rays will be caught this time.



While working on the longline, John got drenched by a wave coming over board.



The second trawl did not have as much fish as the first trawl, but we were able to still get some tissue samples from them. This trawl was only down for 12 minutes instead of the original 15 minutes of the first trawl.













Jack is doing his research on DNA of fish. He needs fin samples to gather the DNA information.



The longline surfaced 6 hours after being deployed. Unfortunately there weren’t any sharks or rays on the hooks, but there was a large rock fish.







Today was an amazing day. Not only did we get a lot of work accomplished, but we also had dolphins swimming along side the ship. A couple of sea lions also join the fun diving in and out of the water.



:)



“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).”