butterfish – NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jojo Chang

Aboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada

June 30 – July 15, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 2)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Date: July 6, 2025

Weather Data from the Bridge

At 4:00 p.m., the temperature was 57.2°F (14°C). Our boat position was 35/17.2 North Latitude and 121/30.2 West Longitude. The sky was OVC 8 oktas, which indicates that all eight sections of the sky were filled with clouds.

Career Log: NOAA stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Onboard NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada are nine officers serving in the NOAA corps. This is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States government. NOAA Corps is a non-military branch that works to assist with ocean and atmospheric research. There is an application process to join NOAA Corps, and once selected, training is facilitated at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. According to the Commanding Officer Jeff Pereira, NOAA Corps’ job on this mission is to keep the crew and ship safe on the open waters at sea and to navigate the boat, ensuring success in both research and operations.

portrait photo of a woman wearing a navy blue NOAA Corps t-shirt (over a black long-sleeved shirt) and sunglasses, standing on the aft deck of the ship. Words superimposed on the photo read: Sanam / Ensign / NOAA Corps — Sanam, NOAA Corps Ensign

portrait photo of a man wearing a navy blue sweater, standing on deck. Words superimposed on the photo read: Aras / NOAA Corps / Senior Watch Officer — Sanam, NOAA Corps Ensign

Additionally, onboard there are many amazing deckhands who help with the challenging and somewhat dangerous operation of bringing the fishing nets in and out of the ocean.

portrait photo of a man wearing an orange t-shirt and a baseball cap, standing in the mess hall. Words superimposed over the photo read: Randy / Acting Chief Bosun

portrait of a man wearing a balck jacket and black overalls standing in a hallway, holding a cup of coffee and pointing upward slightly to acknowledge the photographer; words superimposed on the photo read Jimmy / Assistant Bosun

portrait photo of a man wearing a gray hoodie sweatshirt. it is hard to make out the background, but he stands on deck in front of gray skies and gray sea. words superimposed on the photo read: Shawn / Fisherman

portrait photo of a man in a beige t-shirt, standing in a hallway of the ship. words superimposed on photo read: Roy / Vessel Assistant

One particularly notable (and somewhat cinematic) event during our time at sea was the mid-cruise transfer of an additional crew member by small boat. Due to an unexpected medical emergency, one of the originally scheduled crew members critical to deck operations was unable to join the expedition, leaving the ship shorthanded for round-the-clock fishing and research duties.

view over the railing of an upper deck of a small vessel approaching the larger ship. we can see land not far away. the water is teal blue and the sky is mostly clear.

view over the railing from an upper deck at a small boat pulled alongside the larger ship. crewmembers on the vessel wear bright orange float coats.

To remedy this, a coordinated transfer was executed involving a small Coast Guard vessel and the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. The NOAA Corps officers navigated the maneuver with impressive precision, transforming what could have been a logistical headache into what felt like a scene straight out of Mission: Impossible. The transfer was successful: the new crew member leaped—quite literally—onto the Shimada. With his arrival, we were once again fully staffed for 24/7 scientific operations.

Mammal Watch

The flying bridge is at the very top of the boat, so we get to see some interesting things up there. One fantastic and rare sighting happened when we spotted several humpback whales united in coming up to the surface to feed. According to fish biologist Sabrina Beyer, whales will make a circle around the fish and then travel up through the circle for an awesome meal.

This behavior is further explained by Augliere¹:

Around the world, humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use bubble-nets to trap certain prey such as krill, herring, and young salmon, sometimes in coordinated groups and at times alone. The whales dive down below their prey and swim in circles while releasing bubbles from their blowholes to create a rising curtain. The curtain creates a visual barrier that tricks the prey into thinking there’s no escape. Once the prey is tightly corralled, the whales lunge through the bubble-net with open mouths to swallow their meal.

photo of three humback whales, mouths agape, breaking through the surface of aquamarine water. they are surrounded by feeding gulls. — Photo by Roland Schumann on Unsplash

Additionally, one important part of the scientist’s job is called “mammal watch.” This is usually done from the bridge before fishing nets are placed into the water. Watching the ocean helps reduce the chance that a mammal like a dolphin or a whale gets stuck in the fishing nets. Last night, we had many dolphin sightings and had to move the boat to another location. This delayed fishing for several hours.

Did You Know?

Did you know that there are 15 NOAA ships in operation? Being from Hawaii, I’m particularly interested in the vessels stationed there. Hopefully, once back in Hawaii, I can arrange a tour for my students of the NOAA Oscar Elton Sette. The ship’s home port is Honolulu, Hawaii.

Animals Seen Today: Butterfish, Storm Petrel, Hake, Octopus, Market Squid, Anchovies.

Today’s catch brought in a small batch of our target fish – hake – along with other ocean creatures, including the adorable butterfish. But the real scene-stealer wasn’t a fish at all. A small storm petrel has unofficially joined the crew, making himself quite at home aboard NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada. With his sleek webbed feet built for water paddling, he’s more sea-worthy than the rest of us. We haven’t caught him in flight yet, but his dinner situation is well taken care of.

At mealtime, scientist, Amanda Vitale, casually announced, “I’ve got a squid in my pocket.” This nice little gourmet offering was for Mr. Storm Petrel, named Jeff, after our Commanding Officer. Only an oceanographer would stroll into dinner toting a cephalopod takeout menu. How funny!

Jojo, wearing a Teacher at Sea beanie, overalls, and bright orange gloves, holds up a butterfish for a photo and smiles for the camera. she is in the wet lab.

a dark-colored bird stands o two outstretched hands; we see equipment in the background that is hard to make out

Works Cited:

Augliere, Bethany. “How Humpback Whales Use Bubbles as a Tool.” National Geographic, 26 Aug. 2024, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/humpback-whales-bubbles-tools. Accessed 9 July 2025. ↩︎

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Jenna Cloninger

Aboard Bell M. Shimada

June 11 – June 26, 2025

Mission: Integrated West Coast Pelagics Survey (Leg 1)

Geographic Area of Cruise: Pacific Ocean, California Coast

Today’s Date: June 20, 2025

Track the Ship: Bell M. Shimada

Weather Data Snapshot: 9:54am, Pacific Daylight Time

Currently, the air temperature is 58°F (14°C) with a wind speed of 23 knots and a wave height of 9 feet. Not only are the seas rough offshore, but the wind is making it very chilly to work outside. Luckily, we have some gear that keeps us warm for times when we need to be outside for extended periods. The sky is clear, and the sun is shining, so I am counting my blessings despite the cooler temperatures.

two women bundled up for outdoor work in large red "float coats" and beanies - they are striking somewhat silly poses for the camera. Jenna (left) is wearing a Teacher at Sea beanie. — Melissa (left) and myself (right) preparing to go outside for UCTD deployment.

Science and Technology Log

It’s been an exciting week regarding technology! I had the opportunity to help prepare a CTD (a piece of equipment mentioned in a previous blog post) for deployment as well as the opportunity to observe a UCTD being deployed. A CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Depth) is a tool that measures how salty and warm the water is at certain depths . For larger CTDs, the ship comes to a stop, scientists then lower the CTD using a cable, and it collects data as it goes down. A UCTD (Underway CTD), however, is a smaller version that can be used while the ship is moving. It’s dropped into the water and pulled behind the ship, collecting data as it sinks. This allows scientists to gather information more quickly and without stopping the ship. Both tools are important for helping scientists understand seawater conditions and how they change based on depth, time of day, season, location, etc.

Elias stands, and Jenna kneels, near a large apparatus consisting of a white metal frame, a ring of gray water sampling bottles, and a scientific probe. Jenna is wearing a hard hat and doing something (stringing a wire?) on the CTD as Elias looks on. — Elias and myself preparing the CTD for deployment.

Jenna, wearing a red float coat and Teacher at Sea beanie, stands on deck and holds what appears to be a metal tube in both hands for a photo. — Photo of me with UCTD equipment.

In other news, we have run into several different cephalopods this week. Cephalopods are part of a group of marine invertebrates that includes octopus, squid, cuttlefish, and nautilus. They are known for having large heads, arms or tentacles, and relatively high intelligence when compared to other invertebrates. In our case, we caught a few different kinds of squid, a few small octopus, and a nautilus in our trawling net. I was particularly excited to see the nautilus, because I had never seen one in person before!

close up view of a paper nautilus against a white background; we can see the curved shell with sawtooth bumps, and the eye of the nautilus peeking out the opening of the shell — Paper Nautilus

a squid in a green plastic basket — Robust Clubhook Squid

smaller squid photographed against a plastic blue background — Market Squid

close-up view of a small octopus — Tuberculate Pelagic Octopus

three octopus in messy piles in a green plastic basket — A group of three (3) Seven-Armed Octopus.

As you can see, cephalopods come in many different varieties. I enjoy teaching about them in the classroom because of their unique evolutionary features, like chromatophores, which are specialized cells that enable cephalopods like squid, cuttlefish, and octopuses to rapidly change color. It should also be noted that cephalopods are part of the phylum Mollusca, just like the abalone that I discussed in a previous blog post. In general, I really love teaching about mollusks in the classroom because of the amount of diversity that we see within the phylum.

Personal Log

Speaking of squid, I tried calamari (fried squid) for lunch yesterday. I typically do not eat seafood of any kind, but when you’re on a ship, the food options may not always be what you want them to be. (That’s not to say that the food isn’t amazing, because it is. I am simply a picky eater.) Let’s just say that I will not be eating any more squid any time soon. (But I will still pose for pictures with them!)

a gloved hand holds out a very round squid for a close-up photo — Me, holding a Sandpaper Squid.

I also got to photograph a sunrise on the Pacific! The mornings have typically been hazy, or the boat has been facing the wrong direction for me to view the sun properly, but I finally managed to catch the sunrise while out on the back deck after processing our last catch of the night. Seeing the sunrise and sunset on the Pacific are two goals that I had when I started this journey. Unfortunately, because of my night shift hours, I do not think I will be able to catch a sunset any time soon. Perhaps on the last night of the cruise, I will stay up past my “bedtime” and wait for the sunset!

view through the A-frame on the aft deck of the sun rising over the ocean. seabirds trail the boat, silhouetted against the sun. to the right of the deck, a group of four crewmembers wearing personal flotation devices and hard hats work to untangle a trawl net. — Sunrise on the Pacific ocean from the fishing deck of NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada.

On another note, it has been 10 days since I left Georgia and arrived on the west coast, and I am starting to feel the effects of working such long days. I miss my family, and I miss the comfort of home. That is not to say that I am not enjoying this learning experience, because I am. But I want people to know that individuals who conduct research on scientific vessels like NOAA ship Bell M. Shimada are some of the most hard-working people I have ever met. I get to go home after 16 days and return to my own house with my own bed and other creature comforts. Some people are on this ship for several legs between now and September, and if they’re not at sea, they’re at their respective places of everyday work, such as an office or science center. It’s quite admirable, and humbling, to see how dedicated these people are to marine science and to the well-being of our oceans. It makes me want to be a better teacher so that we have people in the future who love and care for the ocean and are interested in preserving it as well.

view through a porthole window of a churning ocean — A view of the rough seas from my stateroom.

Did You Know?

Let’s talk about butterfish! Off the Atlantic coast, there is a commercial fishery for Atlantic butterfish. There’s another species of butterfish known as the Pacific butterfish that is quite common off the coast of California even though it’s not fished commercially in this region. I have decided that butterfish are the cutest fish that we have caught in our net so far! I love them so much that my teammates toss me all the butterfish when we are sorting our catch, and I make excited noises when I find them buried amongst our anchovies, mackerels, and sardines. In honor of the humble butterfish, I dedicate this Did You Know? section to them!

a hand holds a fish up to a laminated photo of a group of fish (labeled Peprilus simillimus, Pacific butterfish) mounted on a metal wall — A Pacific butterfish from our catch being compared to an image of the species.

According to NOAA, butterfish are small, round fish that are bluish on top with silvery sides and belly. They have small mouths, blunt noses, and grow to about 6–9 inches long, though some can reach 12 inches and weigh up to 1.25 pounds. Butterfish grow quickly but don’t live long; most only live about 3 years and can reproduce by age 1. They spawn in the summer (June and July) and swim in loose groups, feeding on small invertebrates. Why do we care about butterfish? Many animals, like bigger fish, marine mammals, and seabirds, eat butterfish. That means that they are a humble yet important piece of a healthy and balanced ocean ecosystem.

an orange-gloved hand holds three fish by their tails, splayed out like flowers, above a pile of smaller fish (probably anchovy) — A bouquet of butterfish, my new favorite fish.

Tag: butterfish

Jojo Chang: NOAA Corps – Making “Mission: Impossible” Possible, July 6, 2025

Jenna Cloninger: CTDs and Cephalopod Central, June 20, 2025