November 28, 1999

We had a spectacular sunset followed quickly by moonrise and sunrise, all within a few hours. One of the evening highlights on the night watch was the otter trawl. A net was cast and pulled slowly in the depths, while folks waited with an almost childlike sense of anticipation...it is always a pleasure to work with people whose passions bring out joy.

The catch of the day yielded a number of varied creatures: skates, fish, sea cucumbers, sea spiders, urchins, starfish, an octopus, egg casings, and other wonders. In addition to taking stock of what animals were in the area, individual specimens were gathered and distributed among the scientists on board for particularly focused research. Liz Galley, a researcher from the Southampton Oceanography Centre in England, has an interest in urchin reproductive systems; Amy Baco-Taylor, from the University of Hawaii, would be dissecting the sea cucumbers and removing stomach contents to gain an understanding of how and what nutrients are being processed.