BOWLS Cruise Blog

Sampling Process
June 23, 2014
43° 52' N 127° 34' W

Members of the team photographing bone in the lab.

In the last 24 hours, we recovered the second of six Bone Wood Landers (BoWLs) successfully. This one (BoWL #5) was deployed further down the slope at 3000m. Once the lander was secured on deck, the work really begins! For the next five to eight hours, the scientists on board resemble an ant colony: scurrying around with purpose performing pre-assigned tasks but appearing chaotic to any onlookers.

First, the whale-bone and wood substrates are photographed on the lander to record how the experiment looked.  Then they are removed from the lander as quickly as possible and placed into buckets of seawater, which have been chilling for hours previously in the cold van. This prevents degradation of the animal tissues and reduces the amount of stress being faced by animals, which we try to keep alive. All substrates are then taken to the cold van for additional processing. More photography of the bone and wood ensues, but this time in a well-lit lab and from all angles. Substrates are weighed and volume changes measured so that we can judge how much bone or wood was consumed by animals in the past 14 months. During this process, the microbial team cuts pieces off the substrates and takes swabs to identify the nature and rates of microbial processes. Substrates and mesh bags are then have all epifauna (animals living on the substrate surface) picked and then preserved in ethanol (for genetics work) and formalin (for morphological work). After this task is done, the substrates are sent onto the back deck to be cut into pieces that will be preserved in different ways so they can be used for a variety of analyses. Lastly, infauna (animals living in the substrates) are removed from the cut substrates in the lab. Osedax and Xylophaga, which live in the bone and wood respectively, have been the primary animals we are interested. Carefully removing them intact from these substrates is very time consuming.

A team member cutting the bone in pieces to be preserved.

There are some jobs during this process, which are better than others: The scientists working in the cold van end up smelling of whale fat and numb due to the freezing temperatures and those who cut the substrates have to be protected from head to toe as whale bone, whale fat and wood dust fly everywhere and coat everything.

To end on a less disgusting note, last night we were surrounded by a pod of Pacific White-sided Dolphins and then very shortly after, a huge shark was spotted nearby. The dolphin swam next to the ship feeding on fish that are attracted by the lights.

Dr. Diva Amon

Postdoctoral Researcher

University of Hawai’i at Manoa

Last updated: 06/25/2014