Biopapua / Off Woodlark Island
10 October 2010
October 10, 2010
Today, we are working on relatively flat bottoms, west of Woodlark Island.
Sonar detection above the seabed indicates that it should be rich in epifauna.
After using the dredge to check that the bottom is muddy enough, we start working with our trawl and sample fish, shrimp and other crustaceans in large quantities.
Among them we find fragments of wood and many Nypa nuts. Each nut is inhabited by mussels!
Using these samples, Justine Thubaut will try to understand some aspects of the recruitment biology of these mussels. Are mussels within a given nut related to each other, or do they find themselves united by chance, simply because the environment is favorable?
Answering these questions is important to understand the processes leading to genetic differentiation among populations, and explain the diversity of these organisms.
Although we are far from densely populated areas, our trawl brings up waste from human activities...Today, we retrieve a trash bag filled with old clothes, probably left behind by a Japanese ship, based on the writings on a patch found on a shirt.
By late afternoon, we leave this area and head for the island of Bougainville, on the other side of the Solomon Sea. The area that we are crossing is particularly deep, with a trench that plunges below 8000 m depth.
See you on October 12, off Bougainville!
