"Brief News Bite"
 

Greetings,

We are now sampling at our original process station 5. We have "jumped the gun" in an effort to gain access to seals and penguins. Location is vic 67.8857°S 67.6830°W. Due to very high winds during daylight hours we were unable to initiate zodiac ops. After dark the winds died down and we were able to execute a 0-500 m MOC 10 in the deep depression to the south and east of Adelaide Island. We found a very different fauna here at station 5. Besides having a different species composition it is very much richer in biomass than process station 1. I would guesstimate the biomass as easily an order of magnitude higher than at PS 1. It is easy to see why penguins would want to hang out here in winter. Here is a rough break down:

0-50 m: Themisto gaudichaudii, E. superba furcilia

50-100 m: E. superba juveniles and adults (several liters... big catch!!) Themisto gaudichaudii (hyperiid amphipod)

100-200 m: E. superba juveniles and adults (several liters again... big catch!!), some Antarctomysis

200-300 m: Antarctomysis, a few krill, 2 large Pleuragramma antarcticum (silverfish), Eusirus (gammarid amphipod)

300-500 m: 7 large Pleuragramma, 2 Electrona, 50-100 Antarctomysis

I must say that I was thoroughly delighted to see those Pleuragramma in our hauls. Pleuragramma is a better swimmer than Electrona and I was concerned that they might avoid our nets.

If you want us to, and it is permissible to send big emails between the boats, we can send you digital images of the critters described above so you can better put a face to the name with a minimum of effort. You will be getting the same critters in your MOC 1. It is really way cool to see the differences between these two stations so far. I can't wait to see the differences as we move up the axis of the canyon.

All the best, Jose