Greetings people of the land! We're here in Brazilian waters, right up in the excitement of the Amazon River Plume. We have observed many interesting creatures and there seems to never be a dull moment on the ship. The schedule changes by the hour and we grab sleep when we can.
This is a picture of some stuff that was pulled up in the MOCNESS from the fresher surface waters in the plume.
This is a mass of pteropods that calcify tiny little shells to swim around in. Pterapods are sea snails that flap their appendages in a way that has earned them a name "sea butterflies". Here what we see is just their shell and the dark bluish green spot that is the phytoplankton they've ingested. Here's a sweet video of some pteropod flapping action with other species. Our zooplankton specialist on this expedition, Dr. Debbie Steinberg, remarked she had never seen this organism assembled in such abundance before.
Photo: Jason Landrum
Photo: Jason Landrum
Next we have a creature of the deep that was caught in the deployment of the sediment sampler. This is either a viperfish or a gulper eel. We are lacking an icthyologist on this cruise, but sometimes we are allowed to simply enjoy the beauty of marine life instead of studying it.
Check out those jaws!!!
Photo: Jason Landrum
Photo: Jason Landrum
What impressive geometry and colors.
Last we have a little specimen that was found caught in sewage systems. This is a larval form of the river eels that are commonly found in sushi as 'unagi'. This lil critter is an example of a fish with a catadromous life cycle. Catadromous species spend most of their lives in fresh water and migrate to the sea to breed. The larvae then develop for a short time in the marine environment and return to river environments.
Photo: Kristine Okimura
Last here's a photo of the sediments crew waiting for their coring instrument to come up in the impressive Atlantic sunset.
Photo: Kristine Okimura
Until next time!
-kristine
No comments:
Post a Comment