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Day 2, August 2, 2005 TER daily cruise report
The seas around the Tortugas are calm and on the surface 87 F. We took advantage of the calm weather and completed dive surveys of 5 of our permanent sites on the West side of the Tortugas banks. Water at the bottom was considerably cooler than at the surface and very clear.
Interesting fish species encountered included midnight and blue parrotfish,
spanish grunts, white margate and a school of monster Bermuda chub. We
also discovered a meadow of paddle grass, Halophila decipiens, on one
of our shelf transects. The location of this sea grass at a depth of
82 ft, is a tribute to the clarity of the water of the region - but the
recent passage of hurricane Dennis appears to have disturbed the sand
bottom considerably.
Other operations included a cooperative gear recovery effort with Fish and
Wildlife Research Institute, a branch of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission. Four sonic tag receivers (VR2 units) were recovered at the location
that they were deployed. These receivers, located at depths between 95 and
60 ft, record the location of sonic-tagged lobsters and groupers. Researchers
were worried that Hurricane Dennis may have swept away some of 36 that they
deployed in April 05. In addition we completed a four fish transect surveys
in cooperation with National Marine Fisheries researchers conducting a long
term survey of fishes located at permanent sites.
During night we conducted drift video surveys and beam trawl samples on the shelf North of the Tortugas Bank. The shelf here is primarily fine sand with areas of silt and clay. Our video records revealed beds of Caulerpa sertuloides - a fern like macroalgae that sprouts from runners. At around 150 ft the water is deeper here than at the eastern end of the Reserve. Our beam trawl catches were good, cardinal fishes, cusk and moray eels, sea robins and scorpion fish were abundant. We caught fewer pink shrimp and crabs and more rock and mantis shrimp than in our shallower eastern samples of the previous night