Day 4

What another wonderful day in the Bahamas…. The day began with a nice plankton tow from the upper 30 m which contained a number of sea cucumber larvae, oddly enough larvae of a weird group of animals called kamptozoans, and larvae of a nifty jellyfish called Linuche. The morning dive around Green Cay (our southernmost station) returned with a variety of sea stars and sea urchins. I was lucky enough to again be in the sphere for the afternoon dive and Heather Austin (U. Oregon) was in the aft chamber. We left at 4:30 p.m. and descended to a depth of about 1,600 feet. The pilot (Phil Santos) guided the JSL up and down 60 degree underwater canyons as we searched for a sea star called Astropecten – we collected a total of 17 individuals! We also spied a large number of structures that resembled the suction end of a “plumber’s helper.” These are the egg cases resemble the egg cases of the so-called moon snail of shallower marine environments, but we never saw or collected an adult snail.

There were two snorkeling excursions today and those who joined these parties saw an abundance of tropical fishes including barracuda, nurse sharks (a benign form), groupers, and all of those little pretty forms that one sees in texts. Craig Brauer seems to be embracing all aspects of the cruise research activities – he will be working late tonight to filter seawater samples to characterize the distribution of cyanobacteria in the water column.

The experiment that Annie Pollard performed on the sea cucumber larvae was a smashing success and we will continue to explore fluid flow in larvae throughout the remainder of the cruise. Tomorrow at 6 a.m. we will begin again by taking another plankton tow.

I’m told that there is a R & R expedition tomorrow evening in Naussau.