Mission: Juvenile Pollock Survey Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska Date: September 21, 2017
Weather Data from Virginia Beach, Virginia
Latitude: 36⁰ 49’13.7 N
Longitude: 75⁰ 59’01.2 W
Temperature: 19⁰ Celsius (67⁰ Fahrenheit)
Winds: 1 mph SSW
In just a matter of days, my world has gone from this
(we often had a crazy amount of jellyfish to sort through to find the year 0 Pollock)
to this….
(my super worms are warming up their races at the scout overnight tomorrow)
It’s also given me a few days to reflect on the incredible experience I had at sea.
Science and Technology Log
Science is a collaborative. Many people do not realize the amount of teamwork that goes into the scientific process. For instance, several of the scientists on board my cruise don’t actually study Pollock. One of the guys studies Salmon, but he was still on the cruise helping out. I think that’s what really struck me. The folks from the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center pull together as a team to make sure that everyone gets the data they need. They all jump on board ships to participate in research cruises even if it’s not their specific study area, and it’s quite likely someone else is in another location doing the same thing for them. At the end of the day, it’s the data that matters and not whose project it is.
Personal Log
Since returning home, the most frequent question I have received is “what was your favorite part?” At first, I didn’t know how to answer this question. To have such an incredible experience crammed into two weeks, makes it difficult to narrow it down. After a few days of reflection, I finally have an answer.
The onboard relationships were my favorite part of my Teacher at Sea cruise. I appreciated that the entire crew took me under their wing, showed me the ropes, and made 12 hour shifts sorting through jellyfish for Pollock fun! This is the only place where I could have the opportunity to work and live with scientists in such close proximity. I was fascinated by each scientist’s story: how they got into their specialty, what their background is, why they feel what they’re doing is important, etc. I learned that 10 pm became the silly hour when the second cup of coffee kicked in along with the dance music. I learned that beyond Pollock research these folks were also rescuers taking in tired birds that fell onto the ship, warming them up, and then releasing them.
When the next person asks “what was your favorite part?” I will be ready with an answer along with a big smile as I remember all the goofy night shifts, the incredible inside look at sea based research, and the wonderful people I met. Oh, and the views.
The view from Captain’s Bay near Dutch Harbor, Alaska before a big storm blew in.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Jenny Smallwood Aboard Oscar Dyson September 2 – 17, 2017
Mission: Juvenile Pollock Survey Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska Date: September 5, 2017
Weather Data from the Bridge
Latitude: 56 38.8 N
Longitude: 155 34.8
Clear skies
Wind speed 10 mph NNE
Air temp 11.5 degrees Celsius (52.7 degrees Fahrenheit)
Science and Technology Log
Today I got smacked in the face by a jellyfish. It practically flew into my mouth. Don’t worry I’m perfectly fine. I’ll admit to a lot of silent shrieking when it happened. Perhaps even some gagging….How did this happen you might be asking yourself? Read on my friend, read on..
After a couple of days at the dock in Kodiak, Alaska, we are finally underway! My first shift was spent hanging out and watching the scenery as we cruised to the first station.
Here’s one of the whales we saw while cruising to our first station site. Photo courtesy of Jim McKinney
We went through the aptly named Whale Passage where we saw orcas, whales, sea otters, and puffins! It was also the first time we’d seen the sun in two days. To be honest, that was more exciting than seeing whales.
It took about twelve hours for us to reach the first station site. The established routine is bongo net and Stauffer trawl, cruise to next site, bongo net and Stauffer trawl, cruise to next site, bongo net and…well you get the point.
When the Stauffer trawl net is hauled in, the science team and survey tech sort through everything in the net. Juvenile pollock (less than a year old) go into one bin, capelin into another bin, so on and so forth.
The science team and survey tech sort a pile of jellies and fish. *Caution! Watch out for flying jellyfish!*
Now what makes this really interesting is that we’re basically digging these fish out of one massive, gelatinous pile of jellyfish goop. Once all the fish are sorted, the jellies get sorted too, which is where the jellyfish face smack comes in. Picture a smallish conveyor belt with 5 people standing around throwing fish, squid, isopods, and jellyfish into appropriate bins. It turns out that when you throw jellyfish into a bin, it sometimes explodes on impact causing jellyfish goop to go flying, and sometimes it flies onto my face. *smh*
We caught a cool looking smooth lumpsucker fish.
Here I am holding the smooth lumpsucker.
When the crew and science team aren’t working jellyfish laden Stauffer trawls, they’re busy with the bongo nets. These are my favorite because they pull up lots of plankton.
The deck crew and survey tech bring in the bongo nets.
Most people would totally freak out if they knew how much stuff was swimming around in the water with them, including pteropods, which look a bit like slugs with wings. Pteropods are a type of zooplankton also know as sea butterflies for the small “wings” attached to their bodies. The ones we got today were big enough to be slugs. My goal over the next couple of weeks is to get a decent video of them swimming.
Personal Log
Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Even though I’ve never gotten seasick, I succumbed to peer pressure and took some meclizine before leaving the dock. I really didn’t want my memories of the Oscar Dyson to include yakking over the side of the ship. In this case, positive peer pressure was a good thing. I’ve been feeling just fine even when confined in small, fishy smelling rooms. Eau de poisson anybody?
The biggest adjustment has been the time change and 12 hour work shift from noon to midnight. I like to describe myself as the oldest, young person alive. We’re talking early bird specials, going to bed early, and waking up at the crack of dawn. So while the day shift I’m on is clearly a perk, it’s still taken me a few days to get used to it, especially since it’s 4 pm to 4 am east coast time. Judging by the 9.5 hours of sleep I got last night, it’ll be smooth sailing from here.
I can also report that the food on board is delicious. Ava and Adam crank out tasty options at every meal, and somehow meet the needs of about 35 people some of whom are vegetarian, vegan, low acid, etc. Since Kodiak was a washout, I tagged along on the shopping trip prior to our departure. Five shopping carts later we were ready to eat our way across the Gulf of Alaska!
Did You Know?
NOAA scientists on board the ship rotate through different at sea research cruises throughout the year. They even participate on cruises that have nothing to do with their actual research. It’s like a big group effort to get the data NOAA needs for its various research projects.
NOAA Teacher at Sea Dieuwertje “DJ” Kast Aboard NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow May 19 – June 3, 2015
Mission: Ecosystem Monitoring Survey
Geographical areas of cruise: Mid Atlantic Bight, Southern New England, George’s Bank, Gulf of Maine
Date: June 1, 2015
Science and Technology Log:
Bongo Patterns!
Part of my job here onNOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow is to empty the plankton nets (since there are two we call them bongos). The plankton is put into a sieve and stored in either ethanol if they came from the small nets (baby bongos) or formalin if they came from the big nets (Main bongos).
What are plankton? Plankton is a greek based word that means drifter or wanderer. This suits these organisms well since they are not able to withstand the current and are constantly adrift. Plankton are usually divided by size (pico, nano, micro, meso, macro, mega). In the plankton tows, we are primarily focused on the macro, meso and megaplankton that are usually with in the size range of 0.2- 20 mm (meso), 2-20 cm (macro), and above 20 cm (mega) respectively.
(Omori, M.; Ikeda, T. (1992). Methods in Marine Zooplankton Ecology)
We will be heading to four main geographical areas. These four areas are: the Mid Atlantic Bight (MAB), the Southern New England (SNE), Gulf of Maine (GOM), and George’s Bank (GB). I’ve been told that the bongos will be significantly different at each of these sites. I would like to honor each geographical area’s bongos with a representative photo of plankton and larval fish. There are 30 bongos in each area, and I work on approximately 15 per site.
DJ Kast holding the large plankton net. Photo by Jerry PreziosoBongos in the Sunset. Photo by DJ Kast
Here is a video of a Bongo launch.
Flow Meter Data. It is used how to count how far the plankton net was towed to calculate the amount of animals per cubic meter. Photo by DJ Kast
The plankton nets need to be wiped down with saltwater so that the plankton can be collected on the sieve.
Day 1: May 19th, 2015
My first Catch of Plankton! Mostly zooplankton and fish larvae. Photo by: DJ KastDay 1: Fish Larvae and Copepods. Photo by: DJ Kast
Day 2: May 20th, 2015
Larval Fish and Amphipods! Photo by: DJ Kast
Day 3: May 21st, 2015
Day 3, the plankton tows started filling with little black dots. These were thousands of little sea snails or pteropods. Photo by DJ KastClogging the Sieve with Pteropods. Photo by DJ KastClose up shot of a Shell-less Sea Butterfly. Photo by: DJ KastGlass Eel Larva. Photo by DJ Kast
Day 4: May 22nd, 2015
Butter fish found in the plankton tow. Photo by; DJ KastBaby Triggerfish Fish Larvae Photo by: DJ KastSwimming Crab. Photo by DJ KastMegalops or Crab Larva. Photo by: DJ KastPolychaete Worms. Photo by: DJ KastSalp. Photo by: DJ Kast
Day 5: May 23, 2015
Unidentified organism Photo by DJ Kast.Sand Lance Photo by DJ KastPolychaete worm. Photo by DJ Kast3 amphipods and a shrimp. Photo by DJ KastSuch diversity in this evening’s bongos. Small fish Larvae, shrimp, amphipods. Photo by DJ KastSmall fish Larvae. Photo by DJ Kast
Below are the bongo patterns for the Southern New England area.
I have learned that there are two lifestyle choices when it comes to plankton and they are called meroplankton or holoplankton.
Plankton are comprised of two main groups, permanent or lifetime members of the plankton family, called holoplankton (which includes as diatoms, radiolarians, dinoflagellates, foraminifera, amphipods, krill, copepods, salps, etc.), and temporary or part-time members (such as most larval forms of sea urchins, sea stars, crustaceans, marine worms, some marine snails, most fish, etc.), which are called meroplankton.
Day 6: May 24th, 2015
Copepod sludge with a fish larva. Photo by: DJ KastBaby Bongo Sample in ethanol. Photo by: DJ KastMegalops? Photo by: DJ KastFish Larvae. Photo by: DJ KastSample from the mini bongos on the sieve. Photo by: DJ Kast
Day 7: May 25th, 2015
???? Photo by DJ KastTiny Snail. Photo by DJ Kast
Georges Bank- It is a shallow, sediment-covered plateau bigger than Massachusetts and it is filled with nutrients that get stirred up into the photic zone by the various currents. It is an extremely productive area for fisheries.
Photo by: R.G. Lough (NEFSC)
Today, I learned that plankton (phyto & zoo) have evolved in shape to maximize their surface area to try and remain close to the surface. This makes sense to me since phytoplankton are photosynthesizers and require the sun to survive. Consequently, if zooplankton are going to consume them, it would be easier to remain where your food source is located. I think this would make for a great lesson plan that involves making plankton-like creatures and seeing who can make them sink the least in some sort of competition.
Photo by DJ KastHarpactacoid Copepod. Photo by DJ KastThe Biggest net caught sand lance (10 cm). Photo by DJ KastFish Larvae. Photo by DJ Kast
Day 8: May 26th, 2015 Very Diverse day, Caprellids- skeleton shrimp, Anglerfish juvenile, Phronima inside of salp! Photo by DJ Kast
Juvenile Anglerfish aka Monk Fish. Photo by: DJ KastSand Shrimp. Photo by DJ KastA tiny krill with giant black eyes. Photo by DJ KastA small jellyfish! Photo by: DJ KastA phronima (the bee looking thing inside the translucent shell) that ate its way into a salp and is using the salp as protection. Photo by: DJ Kast
Video of the phronima:
Caprellids or Skeleton Shrimp. Photo by DJ Kast
Video of the Caprellids:
Day 9: May 27th, 2015= Triggerfish and colorful phronima (purple & brown). Our sieves were so clogged with phytoplankton GOOP, which is evidence of a bloom. We must be in very productive waters,
Evidence of a Phytoplankton bloom in the water. Photo by: DJ KastJuvenile Triggerfish. Photo by: DJ Kast
Day 10: May 28th, 2015= change in color of copepods. Lots of ctenophores and sea jellies
A comb jelly (ctenophore) found in George’s Bank. We are in Canada now! Photo by: DJ KastSea Gooseberry: a type of ctenophore or comb jelly. Photo by DJ Kast
Did you know? Sea Jellies are also considered plankton since they cannot swim against the current.
Day 11: May 29th, 2015: Border between Georges Bank and the Gulf of Maine!
Krill found in the Gulf of Maine. Photo by DJ KastCallenoid Copepods- its so RED!!! Photo by DJ Kast
Gulf of Maine! Water comes in from the North East Channel (the Labrador current), coast on one border and George’s Bank on the other. Definitely colder water, with deep ocean basins. Supposed to see lots of phytoplankton. Tidal ranges in the Gulf of Maine are among the highest in the world ocean
Gulf of Maine currents! Photo by NEFSC NOAA.
Day 12: May 30th, 2015: day and night bongo (Just calanus copepods vs. LOTS of krill.)
Krill, Krill, Krill! Photo by DJ Kast
Krill are normally found lower in the water column. The krill come up at night to feed and avoid their predators and head back down before dawn. This daily journey up and down is called the vertical migration.
Video of Krill moving:
Day Sample. Photo by DJ KastNight Sample (look at all those krill). Photo by DJ Kast
Day 13: May 31th, 2015: Calanoid Copepod community. Calanoida feed on phytoplankton (only a few are predators) and are themselves the principal food of fish fry, plankton-feeding fish (such as herring, anchovies, sardines, and saury) and baleen whales.
Calanus Community. It’s so RED! Photo by DJ Kast
Day 14: June 1st, 2015:
Brittle Stars caught in the Plankton Tow. Photo by DJ KastTusk shell. Photo by DJ KastSide profile of Shrimp caught in the plankton nets. Photo by DJ KastShrimp Head. Photo by DJ KastShrimp Tail with Babies. Photo by DJ Kast
Day 15: June 2nd, 2015: Last Day
Gooey foamy mess in the sieve with all the phytoplankton. Photo by DJ KastGooey foamy mess in the net with all the phytoplankton. Photo by DJ KastGooey foamy mess in the jar with all the phytoplankton. Photo by DJ KastMap of all the Bongo and CTD/ Rosette Stations (153 total). Photo by DJ Kast.
Through rough seas and some amazingly calm days, we have all persevered as a crew and we have done a lot of science over the last 16 days. We went through 153 stations total. I have learned so much and I would like to thank Jerry, the chief scientist for taking me under his wing and training me in his Ecosystem Monitoring ways. I would also like to thank Dena Deck and Lynn Whitley for believing in me and writing my letters of recommendation for the Teacher at Sea program. I would love to do this program again! -DJ Kast
It’s 4 in the morning. I make my way into the cave. The cave is the computer lab. On one wall the size of my classroom whiteboard, there are nine computer monitors, each one regularly updating with information about the fish under the boat. We’ll talk more about the tech on another day. Today is my first trawl. A trawl is when we drop a net and haul up whatever we can catch.
Chief Scientist Taina and Contracting Scientist Nate in the Cave
I’m still getting my head around a cup of coffee when Alyssa comes in wearing a hard hat and life vest.
“In about 20 minutes, I’m going to need another hand on deck wearing this.” She points to her gear.
I nod. “Where do I find that?”
Alyssa politely tells me where the gear is. I remember that I’m not supposed to go out on deck when they’re hauling up the net… at least not yet. “Who do you want me to tell?” I say.
“Nate would be great! Nate or Darin!” she says, referring to a pair of scientists… one of whom is going off duty (and probably going to sleep) and another who is coming on (and likely just waking up). She grabs some large tool that I can’t name and heads off. Alyssa, like a lot of the crew, is friendly and upbeat in the mess hall (the cafeteria), but is completely focused and efficient on the job, with an eye towards safety and getting the job done.
Your teacher with a Jellyfish bigger than his head.
Our first trawl is the Marinovich Net. It’s a smaller net, but still takes several fishermen and a winch to bring up. It’s a fairly fine net, with holes about the size of a ping pong ball. In our first trawl of the trip, we mostly catch jellyfish. These aren’t your typical, East Coast jellies, though. Some of them are the size of basketballs, and you can see the fish THEY’VE caught through their see-through membrane (their skin!).
We ended up hauling in over 500 pounds of Jellyfish!
Buckets and Buckets of Jellyfish I got to sort with my very own hands!
It’s not a bad first catch, but NOAA scientists aren’t content with that. Hanging on the side of the Marinovich are smaller “pocket” nets. This is where we find out what the Marinovich missed. Nate explains to me that, while we are mainly studying Pollock, there’s other valuable data that can be gleaned (collected) in the process. Other scientists studying Krill populations will be grateful for the data.
The pocket nets are labeled, and each net is placed in a labeled bucket. Then I grab a pair of tweezers and start sorting. It’s mostly krill… skinny shrimp-like organisms with beady black eyes. These tiny invertebrates, altogether, make up millions of metric tons of biomass, according to Misha, our resident Russian scientist on board. Biomass is the amount, by weight, of living things in an ecosystem.
Nate asks me to count out 100 krill with my tweezers, which is kind of like counting out 100 tiny pieces of wet spaghetti. Nate places the 100 on a scale and comes up with a mass of 5 grams. He then measures the rest of the krill, and uses the mass of the original 100 as a way to gauge the total number of krill caught in the pocket net.
Counting Krill: That tiny pile near my nose? Exactly 100 krill, thank you very much!
What stands out to me about this whole process is the attention to detail. That each pocket is carefully sorted, measured, and entered into a computer base. There’s no “-ish” here. I’m not asked to sort “about a hundred.” Not only are the contents of each pocket net measured, but we make sure to note which pocket had exactly how much.
Some of the catch isn’t Krill, however. Sandi calls me over to see how she measures a tiny rock fish. Sandi is a marine biologist who studies reproduction in Pollock. With a gleam in her eyes she explains what’s so great about getting different size young in the net.
“What it means is that it’s possible that some of these fish might be from further away… and we don’t know how they got here, when they got here, or where they came from. And that’s exciting! We weren’t expecting that and it gives us a whole new set of questions!”
I get asked by a lot of kids “how do scientists know that?” My long answer is exactly this. That good scientists DO sweat the small stuff, they make sure that every little variable is accounted for, and collect massive amounts of data. They look for any possible error that might throw off their results or call their conclusions into question. They do the hard work of truly understanding.
So when I hear folks say they don’t believe something simply because it’s inconvenient for them… maybe it challenges a belief that they’ve clung to for no better reason than not wanting to be wrong… I just want to say “Did you do the work? Because I know some people who did.”
And this holds true for all the scientists I’ve been lucky enough to know. Whether they were counting krill, measuring background radiation, or looking for Dark Matter.
By the way, my short answer on “How do scientists know that?” They did their homework.;)
Personal Log
It’s the morning of our third day at sea. It’s taken some getting used to… the first piece is the motion of the boat. Any 8th graders that went on “Untamed!” with me at Canobie Lake Park know that I’ve got some limits as to how I handle a lot of “movement.” The first 8 hours onboard the Oscar Dyson were rough. I thought I might get sick at any moment! But over time, the body figures it out… It’s like your body just says “Oh, this is just what we’re doing now…” and gets OK with it. Now going to bed is like being rocked to sleep by mother earth. 🙂
Alaska…Land of the Midnight Sunset!
The next, very different thing about life on the Bering Sea is time. My schedule is from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m… which in some ways is good. 4 a.m. in Alaska is 8 a.m. Eastern Time (Boston Time). So coming home won’t be that tough. The weird thing is going to sleep. This is the view out my window at 11:00 at night.
This is, of course, because the earth has that big old tilt of 23.4 degrees. This is why Alaska is known as “The Land of the Midnight Sun.” Well, we’re a little more than a month past the summer solstice, and we’re not currently above the Arctic Circle. So the sun DOES eventually go down… around Midnight! That means that I need to go to sleep during the daylight. Sometimes as early as 8 p.m.! And that means I need a lot of shades… Shades for my window, shades for my bed, even shades for my head!
Shades for my window, shades for my bed. Every now and then I wear shades for my head!
We live in an amazing time, where we can travel about the planet, see the extremes that are possible under the physics of this world, and communicate that experience in the same day. Tune in next time when I tell you how to tell the gender of a Pollock. Hint: You can’t just lift their tail!
NOAA Teacher at Sea Britta Culbertson Aboard NOAA Ship Oscar Dyson September 4-19, 2013
Mission: Juvenile Walleye Pollock and Forage Fish Survey Geographical Area of Cruise: Gulf of Alaska Date: Saturday, September 15th, 2013
Weather Data from the Bridge
Wind Speed: 11kts
Air Temperature: 12.2 degrees C
Relative Humidity: 87%
Barometric Pressure: 1010.7 mb
Latitude: 59 degrees 26.51″ N Longitude: 149 degrees 47.53″ W
Science and Technology Log
Finally, as we near the end of the cruise, I’m ready to write about one of the major parts of the survey we are doing. Until now, I’ve been trying to take it all in and learn about the science behind our surveys and observe the variety of organisms that we have been catching. In my last few entries, I explained the bongo net tow that we do at each station. Immediately after we finish pulling in the bongo nets and preparing the samples, the boat repositions on the station and we begin a tow using an anchovy net. It gets its name from the size of fish it is intended to capture, but it is not limited to catching anchovies and as you will see in the entry below, we catch much more than fish.
Why are we collecting juvenile pollock?
We are interested in measuring the abundance of juvenile pollock off of East Kodiak Island and in the Semidi Bank vicinity. We are not only focusing on the walleye pollock, we are also interested in the community structure and biomass of organisms that live with the pollock. Other species that we are measuring include: capelin, eulachon, Pacific cod, arrowtooth flounder, sablefish, and rockfish. As I described in the bongo entries, we catch zooplankton because those are prey for the juvenile pollock.
On the top is an age 2+ pollock, below that an age 1 pollock, and then below that is an age zero pollock. (Photo credit: John Eiler)
The Gulf of Alaska juvenile walleye pollock study used to be conducted every year, using the same survey grid. Now the Gulf of Alaska survey is conducted every other year with the Bering Sea surveyed in alternating years. That way, scientists can understand how abundant the fish are and where they are located within the grid or study area. With the data being collected every year (or every other year), scientists can establish a time series and are able to track changes in the population from year to year. The number of age 0 pollock that survive the winter ( to become age 1) are a good indicator of how many fish will be available for commercial fisheries. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will provide this data to the fisheries industry so that fishermen can predict how many fish will be available in years to come. The abundance of age one pollock is a good estimate of fish that will survive and be available to be caught by fishermen later, when they reach age 3 and beyond, and can be legally fished.
The other part of our study concerns how the community as a whole responds to changes in the ecosystem (from climate, fishing, etc.). That is why we also measure and record the zooplankton, jellyfish, shrimp, squids, and other fish that we catch.
How does it work?
The anchovy net (this particular design is also called a Stauffer trawl) is pretty small compared to those that are used by commercial fishermen. The mesh is 5 millimeters compared to the 500 micrometer mesh that we used for the bongo. The smallest organisms we get in the anchovy net are typically krill.
A picture of a generic trawling net. It’s very similar to the anchovy net that we are using.
Typically, we don’t catch large fish in the net, but there have been some exceptions. You might wonder why larger fish do not get caught in the net. It’s because the mesh is smaller and it’s towed through the water very slowly. Fish have a lateral line system where they can feel a change in pressure in the water. The bow wave from the boat creates a large pressure differential that the fish can detect. Larger fish are usually fast enough to avoid the net as it moves through the water, but small fish can’t get out of the way in time. One night we caught several Pacific Ocean Perch, which are larger fish, but very slow moving. They are equipped with large spines on their fins and are better adapted to hunkering down and defending themselves as opposed to other fish that are fast swimmers and great at maneuvering.
This is one of the Pacific Ocean Perch (rockfish) that got caught in our net.
When we pull in the trawl net, it is emptied into buckets and then the haul is sorted by species and age class. The catch is then measured, weighed, and recorded on a data sheet. After that, we return most of the fish to the sea and save 25 of the juvenile pollock, capelin, and eulachon to take back to Seattle for further investigation. We also save some of the smaller flatfish and sablefish to send back to Seattle. Check out the gallery below to see the process from beginning to end.
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Where are the pollock in the food web?
Eulachon and capelin are zooplanktivores and compete with the juvenile pollock for food. Larger eulachon and capelin are not competitors (those over 150 mm). Arrowtooth flounder and Pacific Cod are predators of the juvenile walleye pollock. Cyanea and Chrysaora jellyfish are also zooplanktivores and could potentially compete with juvenile walleye pollock, so that is why we focus on these particular jellyfish in our study.
This Cyanea jelly weighed 11.6 kilograms!
One of the most common jellies that we see, Cyanea or Lion’s Mane Jelly.
Chrysaora
What’s in that net?
When we pull in the trawl, we sort it into piles of different species and different age classes. If we get a lot of juvenile pollock (age 0), we measure and weigh 100 and freeze 25 to take back to the lab so their stomach contents can be examined. We do the same procedure for young capelin, eulachon, and flatfish. Other organisms like jellyfish are counted and weighed and put back in the ocean.
Below is a list of different organisms we have found in the anchovy net during this cruise:
Every once in a while we find Pacific Cod juveniles, which look very similar to juvenile pollock.
A pink salmon that made its way into our net.
Sometimes all we catch in the net are jellies!
The top two arrowhead flounders are facing up and the bottom one is upside down. Notice the color variation. In flounders, both of the eyes have migrated to the top of the head.
A small pile of krill that was in our anchovy net.
Sometimes we net jellies and sometimes we net kelp, but we are really looking for pollock!
These are the larval stage of a fish belonging to the family Osmeridae. They are likely Capelin or Eulachon.
Small flatfish larvae.
Sand fish found in the trawl. Note the upward pointing mouth. (Photo credit: John Eiler)
A teeny tiny octopus! (Photo credit: John Eiler)
Herring (Photo credit: John Eiler)
Here I am holding a large arrowtooth flounder that was in our trawl.
The sharp teeth of an arrowtooth flounder.
The top fish is a Eulachon, the next is a Capelin, followed by a larval osmerid (could be a Capelin) and lastly, an age zero pollock.
Personal Log
As we wind down the cruise, I’m feeling a little sad that it’s ending. I’m looking forward to going home and seeing my husband and our dog, but I’ll miss the friends I’ve made on the ship and I’ll certainly miss collecting data. Even though it can be quite repetitive after awhile, I can’t think of a more beautiful place to do this work than the Gulf of Alaska. The last few days we have had a couple of stations near the coastline around Seward, Alaska and we have ventured into both Harris Bay and Resurrection Bay. There we caught sight of some amazing glaciers and small islands. There was even an island that had bunkers from WWII on it. Yesterday, 3 Dall’s Porpoises played in our bow wake as I stood on the bridge and watched. It’s moments like this that all of the discomforts of being at sea fall away and I can reflect on what an incredible experience this has been!
Beautiful scenery from Resurrection Bay.Three Dall’s porpoises that were playing in our bow wake.
Did You Know?
Spiny lumpsuckers are tiny, cute, almost spherical fish that have a suction disk on their ventral (bottom) side. The suction disk is actually a modified pelvic fin. They use the suction disk to stick to kelp or rocks on the bottom of the ocean.
Their family name is Cyclopteridae (like the word Cyclops!). It is Greek in origin. “Kyklos” in Greek mean circle and “pteryx” means wing or fin. This name is in reference to the circle-shaped pectoral fins that are possessed by fish in this family.
These lumpsuckers are well camouflaged from their predators and their suction disk helps them overcome their lack of an air bladder (this helps fish move up and down in the water). Because lumpsuckers don’t have an air bladder, they are not great swimmers.
Spiny lumpsuckers are on average about 3 cm in length, but there are larger lumpsuckers that we have found, like the toad lumpsucker that you can see in the photo below.
