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We have successfully occupied a couple of stations in the last 24 hours and are currently stationary on waypoint 0607 to attempt a CTD deployment. It is touch and go as to whether we will actually proceed as the sea state was marginal earlier on but sometimes you just have to stop the ship in order to assess the situation.
Currently, we are in the comparatively shallow waters of the Banzare Bank (about 1800m deep) which is a hot spot of biological activity in this region.
Yesterday’s MIDOC trawl came up with 6 snailfish which has excited Dale who is one of our fish biologists. He loaned me a weighty tome entitled “Fishes of the Southern Ocean” from which I learned that the Liparids (the snailfishes) are predominately found on the continental shelf and the various species are rather hard to tell apart requiring intense scrutiny of the “nasal, maxillary, mandibular and suprabranchial pores” which are “important taxonomic characters in some species”
My layman’s interpretation of this it that you have to count the nostrils but then I didn't think fish even had nostrils (nasal pores?); Anyway, Dale will set me straight and what I can say is: they don’t look like snails.
The sea is definitely lumpier this morning with more pronounced rolling of the ship. We are hoping it won’t get any worse today but the forecast indicates further deterioration tomorrow.
It seems like this morning’s CTD will go ahead. YES!
Lloyd and Brett
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.