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We all expected the Big Polychaete to be the undisputed highlight of the voyage, however, the Southern Ocean continues to turn-up surprises. Yesterday, while sampling the transect from 400m to 2100m down the shelf we blew out the trawl net as we tried to bring it on deck after sampling the 800m site. The video footage from the trawl-mounted camera explained why. Almost the entire day shift crammed into the STS electronics cupboard to see the footage and, after the first gasps of ‘incroyable!’, watched in hushed awe as a scene rivalling the best parts of the Great Barrier Reef was revealed. The sea-bed was 100% covered with living material - colourful branching coralline species and gorgonians forming the major lower storey structure and large branching sponges the upper storey. Amongst this were numerous sea-stars, sea-cucumbers, crustacea and fish of types at yet unseen. After repairing the trawl nets we returned to re-sample the site, this time being very cautious with the time allowed for the trawl to be on the bottom, and were rewarded with a relatively small catch but with many species not previously collected. In marked contrast the communities at 1600m and 2100m were rather sparse with much un-colonised rock and coarse sediment visible, but again the samples, although small, contained many species new to us. The deck crew must be congratulated for their skill and persistence in successfully sampling these very difficult environments, without which the scientists would have nothing. We have now commenced the main CASO sampling for the voyage. Regards, Martin and Sarah.
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.