Ok, so we finished another truly amazing ISIS dive.
During this dive we went right down to the base of the canyon and explored the geologically and biologically. Doug was especially interested in how sediment and material is transported down into the canyon.
The terrain deep down in the canyon was amazing to say the least. Huge monster rocks and lots of gullies. The exploration went well but the terrain was a bit chaotic. From the bottom of the canyon we transited our way upwards.
One the way up we found more massive rocks and some very impressive biology. Some of the features were amazing and we found an extremely sharp knife ridge that thoroughly impressed everyone in the van and got the geologists excited. The currents in this part of the canyon were really high and ISIS found some of them a little taxing. We also found patches of live corals – gardens of differently coloured corals atop ridges.
We also came across large numbers of sea spiders…
At 11:00PM the dive was ended – the weather is once again turning a bit inclement for ROV operations. We started recovering the ROV which reached it’s recovery position at 11:50PM – just in time for the night watch to take over and recover her. The weather wasn’t especially nice – it was a torrential downpour and the other watch got thoroughly soaked.
By morning the weather had changed enough to put an end to ROV operations. However, we were still able to core and throughout the day we managed several mega cores.
We had an interesting visitor this morning. I got woken early as one of the scientists was banging on my door to tell me that there was a “big whale” off the bow. Whilst we have seen lots of pilot whales we have not seen any large whales and I grabbed the camera and went up to the bow.
A number of the scientists had gathered there and pointed where they had last seen the whale. A few seconds later it broke the surface and began blowing. It was an unusual sighting – a sperm whale. It stayed on the surface for about five minutes before going deep and showing its flukes.
Sperm Whales (Wiki)
The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a species of marine mammal, a toothed whale with the largest brain of any animal. The whale was named after the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head and originally mistaken for sperm. The sperm whale is the only member of the genus Physeter, the synonym Physeter catodon refers to the same species. It is one of three living species in the sperm whale family. (The other two are the Pygmy Sperm Whale and Dwarf Sperm Whale).
A bull sperm whale can grow up to 20.5 metres (67 ft) long, it is the largest living toothed animal. A sperm whale has a large head that can be up to one-third of the animal's length. It has a cosmopolitan distribution across the world's oceans. The species feeds on squid and fish, diving as deep as 3 kilometres (9,800 ft) in order to obtain its prey, making it the deepest diving mammal in the world. Its diet includes giant and colossal squid. It is considered the largest living predator and possibly the largest ever, not in terms of its taking animal matter (which is true of all cetaceans, including the larger baleen whales) but in that it actively preys on self-functioning animals. The sperm whale's clicking is the loudest sound produced by any animal, but there is still some uncertainty about its functions. These whales live in groups called pods. Pods of females and young live separately from older males. The females cooperate to protect and nurse their young. Females give birth to calves every three to six years, and care for the calves for more than a decade.
Historically, the sperm whale has also been known as the common cachalot; "cachalot" is derived from an archaic French word for "tooth". Over most of the period from the early 18th century until the late 20th century, the sperm whale was subjected to significant hunting pressure in order to obtain the spermaceti and other products, such as sperm oil and ambergris. Spermaceti found many important uses, such as candles, soap, cosmetics and machine oil. Due to its size, the sperm whale could sometimes defend itself effectively against whalers, a famous example being the Essex. As a result of whaling pressure, the sperm whale is currently listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. The sperm whale has few natural enemies, as few predators are strong enough to successfully attack a healthy sperm whale, however orcas have been observed attacking pods and killing adult sperm whales. The sperm whale can live for more than 70 years. |
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Above: ISIS being deployed at the start of dive 117
Above: ISIS on the surface at night at the end of dive 116
Above: ISIS being winched at the end of dive 116
Above: ISIS being winched at the end of dive 116
Above: ISIS being deployed - 116
Above: Close-up of one of the samples from Dive 116
Above: Sven's experiments. He is monitoring the heartbeat of the crabs
Above: Another beautiful sample
Above: A dive 116 sample
Above: Paul with dive 116 sample
Above:Sven eyes the sea spider warily
Above:Sea spider - big ugly and not the sort of thing you would like to find in the bath
Sea spiders, also called Pantopoda or pycnogonids, are marine arthropods of class Pycnogonida. They are cosmopolitan, found especially in the Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas and the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans.
There are over 1300 known species, ranging in size from 1 to 10 millimetres (0.04 to 0.4 in), to over 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) in some deep water species. Most are toward the smaller end of this range in relatively shallow depths, however, they can grow to be quite large in Antarctic waters.
Although "sea spiders" are not true spiders, or even arachnids, their traditional classification as chelicerates would place them closer to true spiders than to other well known arthropod groups, such as insects or crustaceans. However this is in dispute, and they may even be an ancient sister group to all other living arthropods. |
Above:Documenting the samples
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above: Sperm Whale on surface - notice the distinct foward blow
Above: Sperm Whale on surface
Above:Sperm whale showing its flukes. Although it was only a juvenile this whale was BIG!
Above: Sperm whale flukes
Above: Sperm whale flukes - going going
Above: Sperm whale flukes - going
Above: Sperm whale flukes - almost gone
Above: plunging down
Above: Sperm whale flukes
Above: Sperm whale flukes - look at the huge missing chunk from the flukes
Above: Cold whale watchers