#1218S final blog: Is it a whale? Is it a rig platform? No, it's land!

After 26 days at sea, the 1218S JNCC and Marine Scotland survey is complete! What a whirlwind four weeks we have had. Scientists on board the MRV Scotia have travelled nearly 3,000 kilometres, collected over 3,800 photographs, recorded over 113 hours of video footage of the seabed and collected and processed 47 grab samples from Faroe Shetland Sponge Belt NCMPA. In doing so we have met all our primary objectives for the survey!

'Ping-Pong' Tree Sponge (Chondrocladia) © JNCC/MSS 2018 

We have documented a huge variety of marine life and habitats across these sites, ranging from the deep-sea sponges of Rosemary Bank Seamount and Faroe Shetland Sponge Belt MPAs, to corals and iceberg ploughmark rocky habitats at Wyville Thomson Ridge SAC. As showcased in our previous blogs, the diversity of the marine life we have seen has been staggering!

Reflecting on this, JNCC monitoring lead for the survey and on-ship data guru Chris McCabe said, "the survey was incredibly exciting, seeing some of the extraordinary species in the deep sea of the Wyville-Thompson Ridge SAC from our camera tows was a fantastic experience".

Beautiful sunrise as the MRV Scotia approaches Aberdeen © JNCC/MSS 2018 

The data we have collected will form a crucial part of a dataset that will be used to monitor how these diverse habitats change over time.

In summary, I am glad to report that thanks to the hard work of our Marine Scotland Science colleagues, the crew and our own scientists, this survey has been a success. Please check back in with us for more survey blogging when we next go to sea, but for now we are excited to begin working up the data collected!

Welcome home! JNCC staff return from a successful survey with Marine Scotland Science © JNCC/MSS 2018

Keep an eye out for the results and progress of the data we have collected on our JNCC Twitter feed with #1218S!

Survey Fun Fact:

Did you know that the aptly-named ‘Ping-Pong’ Tree Sponge (Chondrocladia) is carnivorous? As a member of the Cladorhizidae family of carnivorous demosponges, it survives by catching small crustaceans and small fish with hook-like features covering the ball-like surfaces.

Read more here:

Nature

Deep Sea News

Written by Jessica Taylor

Images Copyright JNCC/MSS 2018

Revisiting Wyville Thomson... Fridge! Blog #6

Hello again from the 1218S survey! We have now returned to Wyville Thomson Ridge SAC to continue our sampling here following a welcome half-landing in sunny Ullapool.

Since we have been here we have found it hard to ignore the influence that the topography of the ridge has on the habitats and communities we have encountered (see Figure 1). Closely related to this, we have found much variation in the temperature of the water at the seabed surrounding Wyville Thomson Ridge. Influenced by colder Arctic water, seabed communities to the north-west of the site experience water temperatures which drop to a chilly -0.7°C (much colder than your average fridge!). A few miles to the south-east the warmer Atlantic water, itself warmed by the Gulf stream, was observed on this survey to reach a balmy 9.4°C at the seabed. Due to this, we have encountered different biological communities in different regions of the MPA.     

Ship’s sonar showing changes in bathymetry (seabed elevation) from 400 meters to 800 meters depth, reflecting the complex topology of Wyville Thomson Ridge SAC

But what of the habitats themselves? We have found that the shallower parts of the site (the ridge top and sides) seem to be dominated by cobbles, boulders and coarse sediment such as gravel and sand. In the deeper water off the ridge, we have found muddier habitats, including some consisting of hard material with a thin covering of silt.  

From our observations, these habitats all have distinct biological communities associated with them. We have found crinoids and even cold-water corals dominating similar habitats (cobble and boulder fields), while sponges have been seen on rocky surfaces throughout the site. Burrows, with as yet unknown inhabitants, were seen in the muddy areas, together with a giant Umbellulla sp. seapen!  

The images below show some examples of the range of habitats we have encountered and the animals which live there.

Potential stony reef with cold-water corals (A) and sponges and crinoids (B), cauliflower coral on gravel (C), and mud with Umbellulla sp. seapen (D)

We have also seen a plethora of mobile species from fish, captured by the underwater camera at the seabed, to marine mammals at the surface. Fish species observed include rays, chimaeras, ling and many, many red fish. During one camera tow, we were especially excited to spot two Arctic skates enjoying a nice seabed walk! This species was also sampled during the first leg of this survey; see if you can spot it on our previous blog.

Arctic skate (A) and Chimaera monstrosa (B)

Please check out @JNCC_UK on Twitter (#1218S) if you would like to see footage of the common dolphins, pilot whales and fin whale we have encountered! 

Survey Fun Fact:

The Chimaera monstrosa or Rabbitfish, is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in the 'Near Threatened' category. Its favourable depth range coincides with high-levels of deep-sea fisheries making it vulnerable to capture, via methods such as trawls and bottom gillnets. A secondary threat is the increasing interest in using liver oil from this species in human dietary supplements. Read more here:

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/63114/0

Written by Joey O'Connor & Ellen Last

Images copyright JNCC/MSS 2018

Half landing ahoy! A chance to refuel and stretch those sea legs...Blog #5

Since the last blog post the team here have been squirreling away, successfully collecting video data from all of the planned stations at Rosemary Bank Seamount and starting to collect still photos and video from Wyville Thomson Ridge. The weather has delayed us a little on this goal but we are back on track, and steaming ahead aiming to collect as much data as we possibly can before we come in to the half landing at Ullapool.


Fish assemblage from 1200m depth from the North side of Wyville Thomson Ridge in the Faroe-Shetland Channel

The half landing is anticipated by everyone by this point as stocks of chocolate bars and packs of crisps run dangerously low! Additionally, at the half landing we will be bidding farewell to our MSS and JNCC colleagues bar myself and welcoming 6 new JNCC staff to the ship. With the promise of a replenishment of the sweets and biscuits, and a chance to stretch our legs on a little less wobbly a footing, it is safe to say that everyone is looking forward to those 24 hours on dry land.



All systems go on board the MRV Scotia

After the half landing it will be a race against the clock with only 8 days left on the survey to try and gather as much data as possible from the 2 sites we plan to revisit, Wyville Thomson Ridge and Faroe Shetland Sponge Belt. The drop-frame camera system is the technology of choice for finding out all we can about the animals that live in these 2 protected areas and catching a glimpse into the world they inhabit. If the chariot footage is any indication, the staff joining Scotia are in for a real treat, the amazing footage we have already seen shows the fantastic diversity of the marine life and habitats within these 2 sites.

Written by Jess Taylor

Investigating the species of the deep... Blog #4

We have begun our depth stratified trawl transect that will take us from the warm NE Atlantic waters of the Rockall Basin, up and over the Wyville Thomson Ridge SAC and then down into the Arctic-influenced water of the Faroe-Bank Channel. We have begun the transect some 30 miles east of Rosemary Bank Seamount NCMPA and have so far undertaken a line of trawls at depths of approx.1800m, 1600m, and 1200m working north. We have encountered diverse assemblages of fish at each depth, two of which are shown below:

Fish assemblage from 1200m depth

Fish assemblage from 1800m depth

Survey Fun Fact:
There are two families of deep-sea, squaliform, sharks that are able to glow in the dark; Kitefin sharks (Dalatidae) and Lantern sharks (Etmopteridae). This phenomenon is also known as bioluminescence!  

Read more here: 
Glow in the dark sharks

Written By Jim Drewery & Ellen Last