Thursday, 8 March 2012

New habits.... the glorious monkfish


We steamed through the early morning up to Barmade Bank where previously collected acoustic back scatter data indicates that there are outcrops of chalk reef. Here we will be collecting additional video data to help us understand the range and extend of different habitats within in the North Sea area.

Map of Cefas Endeavour's Progress

The night shift have done a grand job collecting drop video transects across the site. Tim managed to capture a photo of the second Monkfish of the survey, other highlights were several squat lobsters and an edible crab.

Lurking Monkfish
Edible Crab
We didn’t hit rock every time, but even the sands had a few interesting specimens to offer, including a fair few sea pens. These are found in the soft coral group of animals, they are plankton feeders and anchor themselves in muddy or sandy ground, and prefer deeper waters were they are less likely to be disturbed by water movements.

Sea Pen