Survey work begins on
the mid-point of the Hebridean Slope
It’s
7.30pm on 19th July and we have just arrived on site to begin our
survey work within the Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope Nature Conservation
MPA. With the camera drop-frame all rigged up, we begin the descent into depths
of our first priority area; positioned in approximately 600 to 800m of water on
the mid-point of the Hebridean Slope.
Having ‘bagged’
just five 150m-long camera tows of seabed imagery, the first thing we noticed
was just how diverse these sampling stations less than a few miles apart can
actually be at this depth; from fine sandy muds pitted with burrows of
crustaceans, to coarser sediments where feeding tracks of echinoderms and an
abundance of tiny brittlestars can be seen. We were also greeted by a number of
deep-water fish species including Molva
sp. and Lophius sp. In one
particular shot of a lonely boulder we found an abundance of life; including
large barnacles feeding, pencil urchins and anemones.
As midnight
approached, it was time to try our hand at the box coring, a sampling technique
that allows us to take a sample of the seabed for more detailed analysis. More
to follow on this in our next blog instalment! Stay tuned...
 Box corer deployment. © JNCC/MSS (2016) | ||
|
Abundant brittlestars on coarse sediment. © JNCC/MSS (2016)
Boulder with squat lobster, anemones, pencil urchins and feeding barnacles. © JNCC/MSS (2016)
