Life on the bottom?
November 8, 2007 - 2:02pm
What is the range of water depths in the various holes and what kinds of life are you finding? What ar the most interesting or surprising things that you are finding growing on the objects after being on the bottom for 40 years?
Jeff Peneston
Liverpool High School
Liverpool NY
Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the great questions! The water depths range from 60 feet to 130 feet where we have had divers and submersibles this season. The most interesting thing to Stacy is that the large Volcano sponges are predominantly found ABOVE the seafloor - either on tables that were set down, or on floating lines that were emplaced. Stacy thinks this is because the sponges can settle on the tables or lines and they are above the predatory starfish that would eat them when they are younger and smaller.
Some other fun things that have been seen are a dragonfish, a nudibranch, and many brittle stars, bivalves, and worms. We are busy packing now to leave New Harbor and head back to McMurdo so I don't have underwater photos loaded yet, but I will make sure they get in a journal entry soon.
Another interesting thing is that the fish on this side of McMurdo Sound are much larger than the same species on the McMurdo side of the Sound. One hypothesis could be the research scientists at McMurdo are overfishing the species they are studying. More studies need to be done!