9 Nov 2018 by Cassie Fries

Hello from the night shift, even though I am writing this at 9 am, which to me is late at night. It’s confusing but when I say, “the sun is setting!” at sunrise, just go with it—it makes sense. It’s about a week into the cruise and things have really picked up. We have been doing tows every night and catching a good amount of ‘biology,’ our catchall word for every little critter we get.

My job is to get data for g-measurements (density-measurements) on the different animals caught. To collect the data, I have to get the density contrast of the animal. This involves putting the animals in a beaker of seawater and adding a mix of seawater and glycerin to be able to make them buoyant. So far, I’ve been able to take measurements of pyrosomes, krill, shrimp, fish, and phyllosoma. 

phyllosome flattened
Fig 1: Phyllosoma neutrally buoyant. Look at how flat they are! Photo by Cassie Fries.

 

phyllosoma
Fig 2: A phyllosoma laid out for photos. Photo by Cassie Fries.

 

Phyllosoma are larval lobsters, but at this stage they resemble almost nothing like the lobsters you eat. With a translucent, thin body, and very long appendages, it’s hard to be able to see how these grow into the lobsters we know and love.

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