Lobsters, Crabs, and Seals

Today we got up early and drove to the Darling Marine Center, where we boarded the R/V Ira C boat. We cruised through towards the open ocean (but not quite there) and made three stops for oceanographic stations, where we did some typical measurements and sampling. One of the things we did that I haven't done before was a bottom trawl, where (I don't know if I approve of this) we dragged a net on the bottom of the sea for about 10 minutes and brought it up to count everything in it. Among the hardy lobsters and crabs there were also some bottom dwelling fish that probably died. I kept taking some and throwing them back when no one was looking, so if you're reading this and you were the one taking a tally of what we caught.... maybe add on 10 urchins and 5 soft shelled lobsters and at least 10 fish. On the cruise we also saw several little seals just swimming around enjoying the 14degree C water.

Here's a picture from Guatemala. from Manute's camera.