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Day 6: 8-1-06
Survey Team
- Paula Whitfield
- Doug Kesling
- Christine Addison
Collection Team
- Jay Styron
- Wilson Freshwater
- Brian Degan
- Norb Wu
The seas calmed down considerably today, allowing us to transit 75 miles overnight to our furthest site, the 18 Fathom Wreck. This wreck is close to 100 miles from Beaufort Inlet, our port of origin. From this point on we will be working our way closer and closer to home. The first year we visited this site, it had one of the highest densities of lionfish of any site surveyed.
Today, we conducted several transects to quantify the fish community and to count the number of lionfish. In 2004’s fish transect, eight lionfish were counted; today we counted eleven. We also collected 17 lionfish for examination of their life history characteristics. During our two dives, we saw numerous lionfish, spadefish, black sea bass, African pompano and other tropical species. Except for a cold water layer hugging the seafloor near the wreck, this was a great dive.
The conditions on the second dive site, a wreck known as the City of Houston, were much worse. Visibility was reduced to less than 15 feet due to particulates in the water, “marine snow”, and high densities of juvenile fish and baitfish. We were able to finish the survey transects and collect a sensor that has been logging bottom water temperature every 30 minutes since August 2005. These temperature data are useful in capturing seasonal changes which increase our understanding of where lionfish can survive and reproduce. Lionfish, die when temperatures drop to 50° F. The temperature logger retrieved from City of Houston reached a winter minimum of 55 ° F, potentially warm enough for year round survival of lionfish.
We have just passed the halfway point now and have examined 16 different locations spread across Onslow Bay, North Carolina. Lionfish were observed at 14 of these locations, with record high densities recorded at three locations. We will see if this trend continues during the final days of our cruise.
