Catch of yesterday morning...a lobster larvae.

Another encounter in the afternoon trawl. A Dragonfish (Idiacanthus fasciola). This Dragonfish is sexually dimorphic. Males don't get the barbel and bioluminescent bulb hanging off of their chins. They have short lives and last just long enough to breed. This is a female. Note the bioluminescent photophores on her sides. Those spots glow in the dark and most likely aid in recognition of same species individuals and even recognition between the sexes. The bulb at the end of her barbel glows and attracts her prey items.

A deep water fish (Scopelarchus analis) with upward facing eyes that are adapted to see faint light or to key in on bioluminescence.

Though it may take longer to sort through a sample inundated with sargassum, we’ve been seeing some really unique organisms.  Pictured below is a sargassum fish, an ambush predator, that has the perfect camouflage. 

We’ve also been collecting filefish, crustaceans, and jellyfish that are taken out of the samples by Carlos Ruiz and Veronica Quesnell.  

Right after they help pull up the nets they search each sample for organisms to take back with them to the Texas A&M Galveston Shark Biology and Fisheries Lab run by David Wells, PhD.  

Carlos came back to his alma mater of TAMU after finishing a M.S. from Auburn University.  A research technician, he has an integral part in the lab and assisting graduate students on their projects.  The position allows him to take part in a wide variety of research and to be out in the field frequently, which he enjoys.  It would be a great opportunity after graduation for any student with an affinity for research .  

Veronica usually isn’t out on the field, and instead gets samples for her research on swordfish from NOAA and commercial fisheries.  Along with other courses she’ll be teaching fisheries techniques in a field ichthyology course.  In addition to being a researcher, student, and teacher, Veronica is the mother to a beautiful girl named Abby.  

We finished up the last few sampling sites yesterday.  Kendall and I can’t thank the group from Texas A&M and the Blazing Seven crew enough for making the cruise so enjoyable.  I’ll miss my time on the boat, but I’m excited to return to my position at Sarasota High School and share my experience with my students!  

Yesterday was another beautiful day on the Blazing Seven.  We’re still running across a significant amount of sargassum while using the neuston net.  Our captain, Thomas Tunstall, tries to avoid the floating masses during the tows. 

Deploying her own plankton net at every other site is Jillian Gilmartin.  She came to Texas A&M (TAMU) from NC State with degrees in Meteorology and Marine Science.  She just brought up a sample with lots of jellyfish.  She explains that this area, the middle of the loop current, is warmer and has low biological productivity.  Jillian is collecting the plankton samples for her thesis.  Her research focuses on tropical species found in the Gulf of Mexico that arrive there via the loop current off of the Yucatan. 

When I asked what I should tell my students who are interested in pursuing a career in Marine Science she suggested getting involved during your undergraduate degree by interning or working in a lab. The work she did outside of her major is actually what led to her current research with Dr. Rooker.   

Cori Meinert is a brand new graduate student at TAMU.  She is an Environmental Science major from Ohio that worked in a freshwater lab last summer.  She came across an article by Dr. Rooker during her studies, emailed him, and then made the decision to start her Masters degree at TAMU.  She had just arrived in Texas and then traveled the very next day to the ship for this research cruise.  What a way to dive into your graduate degree!  In the picture below Cori is recording the pH, salinity, and other characteristics of the surface water at each site. 

Near the end of the day the sargassum started to clear.  This time the neuston net sample contained the billfish that we had not seen in the previous tows.