Whats in the Hamon Grab?

Following on from our last blog, a number of hamon grabs have also scooped up a few interesting sea creatures at South West Deeps West including a sea potato, an anemone and worms of all shapes and sizes.



The sea potato is a heart shaped sea urchin, which likes to bury itself in sand.

A sea anemone, picked up by the hamon grab, tentacles
withdrawn now that it is out of water.



A sea anemone underwater, with tentacles extended to catch passing food in the water column
















A sand mason worm (Lanice conchilega) a species of burrowing worm which
builds tubes consisting of sand grains and shell fragments.

We have also had a look at a number of very small worms found in some of the samples we collected under the microscope. After having a look as what we had been picking out of the sieves for the last week these worms where returned  to their samples and will be identified post survey.  

Just over half way through our time at sea, we are now nearing the end of our successful survey of South West Deeps West rMCZ.