Quick Gulf of Mexico Trip

Chaunax suttkusi from 360 meters

Last month I was fortunate enough to go on another research cruise to the Gulf of Mexico with Dr. Darryl Felder and his lab from the University of Louisiana Lafayette. This trip was similar to our previous trips where we were using a custom made benthic skimmer to get deep sea crabs and fishes. Unlike previous trips, however, this was our most ambitious yet. We sampled from Louisiana all the way to the Straights of Florida, and also attempted to sample deeper than we ever have before, down to 3,425 meters! Sampling at those depths takes a lot of time and also comes with its whole suite of problems you must be cognizant of. Unfortunately our deepest samples didn't come up with much, as one snagged on an unmarked wreck and the current was too strong on another one for our skimmer to reach the bottom. However, we still got a ton of great samples from other sites that weren't in the 3,000m range, like the Chaunax suttkusi pictured above and the Steindachneria argentea below. Some of these samples are new representatives for our museum, and they will all be available through the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science to any interested researchers. There were rumors that this was Darryl's last research cruise, but hopefully that isn't the case. In fact, I hope there are many more in the near future because they are always a great time. Thanks to Darryl, his lab, and all the people on the boat for making this last quick trip a great success. 

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Steindachneria argentea from 327 meters.