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| Sorting and identifying of species. This was our smallest haul I think! |
The day started at 11 am on USFSP’s research vessel, the
Weatherbird. For the next 12 hours I would be working with Kristiana and Dana
on three different scientific tasks, not including species identification (that
was everybody’s job!) Each task we performed would be conducted over a
10-minute period. We had the first task and the first “shift” on the CTD. As
you may know from our previous posts, the CTD measures conductivity,
temperature, and depth. Attached to the CTD were Nansen bottles to collect
water samples at different depths in the water column. We collected water from
the bottom, halfway between the surface and seafloor, and at the surface of the
water. (Doubles were taken to be safe, luckily too, one of the bottles didn’t
close correctly!) We then recorded the data from the CTD and gave the water
samples to the next team to perform tests on.
Hard hats on! Next, we navigated the dredge into the water
to collect seafloor specimens. Sadly, to use a dredge we had to essentially take
a chunk of “stuff” off of the seafloor. This “stuff” included, fish and
invertebrates, coral, sponges, and other organisms attached to the substrate.
The identification of that haul didn’t take too terribly long compared to the
otter trawls and dredges the other teams conducted.
Our final task was to conduct a Neuston and Bongo net pull.
The Neuston net was just a really big plankton, like the other ones we used at
UWF. The Bongos were pretty cool. They were two huge plankton nets attached to
each other (from above they look like bongos) with flow meters attached
directly in the middle of the net opening. The flow meter would let us
calculate how much water flowed through the nets. The day was long and tiring,
but I had a lot of fun with everyone and the ship’s crew. Thank you Tom for the
amazing meals!
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| Sunset aboard the Weatherbird! |
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