Squid science: Field notes from Stephanie Bush
By UCMP grad student Stephanie Bush, April 10May 31, 2007
Stephanie is a graduate student at UCMP currently doing research at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). She wants to figure out why deep sea squid release ink even though there's very little light in the deep sea. Check out an overview of Stephanie's research, her other updates, or read on to find out what she's been working on recently … |
April 10-11, 2007
In this video narrated by Stephanie, we can tour the Western Flyer's control room, then watch: (1) a jellyfish on the control room monitors; (2) how the jellyfish is collected using the suction sampler; (3) the ROV Tiburon recovery; (4) the collection buckets containing animals on the Tiburon; and (5) researchers in the wet lab. |
May 2, 2007
Northern Elephant Seal females and pups bask on the beach at Año Nuevo. |
Why Año Nuevo? Every spring hundreds of individual seals come ashore for several weeks to shed their old coat and grow a new one. During this time, individuals spend little time in the water and seldom feed. Researchers have been studying this colony for years, and the graduate students introducing me to the animals were recovering some tags that recorded the depth and duration of the seals' dives. I knew that tags were attached to and recovered from animals in the field, but I learned that these researchers rarely brought individuals into captivity. I realized that my experimental plan to expose captive seals to ink as they fed upon squid wasn't going to work! Despite the fact that I will have to rethink this plan, which I was quite excited about, I had a great time seeing 100–170 kilogram animals up close.
May 18, 2007
This is Planctoteuthis, a squid we very rarely see in Monterey Bay, captured on video by the ROV Tiburon. |
May 31, 2007
The location of the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California. |
Things I need to take: SCUBA diving gear, plastic bags, electrical tape, plastic tubes, glass jars, dissecting tools, permanent markers, labeling tape, headlamp, gloves, close-toed shoes, lab notebook.
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Audio and video by Stephanie Bush; Northern Elephant Seals by Stephanie Bush; Planctoteuthis © 2006 MBARI; Guaymas Basin map adapted from a USGS shaded relief map.