The basket dredge that was completed early this morning, about 1:00 a.m., only brought up pebbles that were identified as drop stones. The corals group was still searching for a good way to collect the corals that they knew were on the seafloor. Next, they again tried the Towcam, but unfortunately a problem occurred once placed into the cold Antarctic water. Later the in afternoon, the otter trawl was used in shallower water, at about 400 meters.
The otter trawl looks much different than any other equipment, it is basically a huge net with 2 weights on the side that act as a mouth for collecting marine life.
The otter trawl was quite successful! It collected a wide variety of marine life, starfish, sea cucumbers, fish, sea spiders, sea urchins, sponges, and CORALS! It did not collect a massive amount of corals, and none were fossilized but it was a great start! Rhian was very happy to add to her collection of living corals.
All the marine life gets placed into a bucket before it gets sorted and analyzed further.
The final attempt to collect corals involved using the rock dredge. The ship pulled the rock dredge up a small slope very slowly, but the results were not good for the marine life. The rock dredge was just too rough and it destroyed the small amount that it collected with the rocks. Currently, the Towcam is about to enter the water, we are all wishing and hoping for the best!