Signs of Life

For only the second time since we've been on site I have seen signs of life out here. The first was a small seagull-looking bird scanning the surface of the water for eats. I think he was a smidge far from home.

The second encounter with macrofauna (animals you can see with your naked eye) was a sun fish off the port side of the ship this afternoon. He was basking in the sun (as sun fishes do) and lending himself to a few photographs.





Here's a better photograph of a sunfishie:





Also, see Wiki for more info on these guys and their basking habits.





We've had some action in the microscopic realm too. (At least we hope so!) Early this morning, some mud containing little bits of rock came up with the drill bit. This is exciting because 1) the mud is from the sediment just above the oceanic crust * and 2) the little bits of rock in the mud are the only samples thus far of the upper oceanic crust in this area and 3) we got some for microbiology analyses. Granted these samples are contaminated to hell but they can be useful for background samples for the rest of our data.

* The oceanic crust is formed at mid-ocean ridges where lava erupts and cools on contact with the seawater. As the ridge continues to spread, sediment falling out of the ocean coats the ocean floor. At our site, the sediment layer above the basalt that we're actually interested in is ~230 m thick!