Daily Journal December 13, 2003


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December 13, 2003

Lots of crabs (15 to 20) are caught in the traps and transported to Alvin’s basket to bring back to the surface. Irene Garcia deployed the traps for her research. Here is what she had to say about them:

"Why am I putting down crab traps? Well, we are thinking the crabs may serve as "taxis" for the Riftia symbiont between vent sites. Makes sense for something that cannot go far on its own to use a mobile object for dispersal (fruiting trees do it all the time). Because Riftia rely on their symbionts for survival (being mouthless and gutless, the Riftia cannot live without these bacteria), the symbiont should be ubiquitous in the environment if, as assumed, it isn't maternally transmitted. Basically we are thinking of another route through which the bacterial symbiont could be dispersed throughout vent sites. I take the crabs and scrape their surfaces, looking for the bacteria settled on their bodies.

Anthony and Jerry take a high dive off Alvin after today’s recovery. Diving is one of the highlights for the swimmers and those watching during the daily recoveries. The swimmers each try to wait longer (until Alvin is high above the water) and try different types of dives.

Check out these photos, which have been transmitted to the University of Delaware from the R/V Atlantis.

Some deep-sea organisms can be kept alive for a period of time in a high-pressure aquarium.

Currently, there are three female, gravid (impregnated) crabs living in the aquarium.

Pressure in the aquarium is maintained at about 1,500 psi, which is about half the pressure they experience in their natural, deep-sea environment.

Dr. Colleen Cavanaugh presents today’s science seminar — "The Most Abundant Protein on Earth."

She packs a “full house” in the library of those interested to find out just what it is. Turns out she considers it to be RubisCO.

Atlantis gets in the Christmas spirit, as decorations continue to pop up around the ship.

Irene’s crab trap.

She shows how the trap is assembled.

Once assembled, the traps are filled with bait and deployed. Crabs enter the “funnel” to feed and are unable to go back out the opening. (See video clip at the top of this page.)

The final drops of water are sprinkled on Frank during his initiation.

After four buckets of ice water, he wrings himself out.

Images of Alvin’s profiling sonar, which makes “maps” of the seafloor topography. The color patterns will become a series of dots once the sub gets closer to the bottom.

Another example of a sonar profile (still well off the bottom).

A probe takes Sipper (discrete water) samples of unimaginably hot vent water.

It’s Anthony’s turn today to recover the sub after the dive.