August 7, 2019
We are finishing up the final stages of the Deep-See cruise with a calibration exercise of Deep-See, after which we'll be steaming back to the dock in Newport, Rhode Island, for arrival tomorrow morning.
A quick update about the mid-water trawling. On the last trawl of the cruise, we caught three very large strawberry squid (Histioteuthis). The largest had a mantle length of 29 centimeters (about 11.5 inches) and an overall length of about a meter (roughly 39 inches), which seems to be the maximum size reported for these squid. It's good to confirm the presence of some of these large animals in the twilight zone.
We would like to thank the crew and officers of the Bigelow for a successful cruise and for the patience and flexibility for schedule changes that are inherent with a research cruise. Everyone worked hard to squeeze as much science we could out of the couple of weeks that we had. It was great to see everyone working together, getting Deep-See in and out of the water safely, and enjoying the time out here.
We look forward to sailing again.
Mike Jech
Northeast Fisheries Science Center
Co-chief Scientist, HB19-07
Aboard the NOAA Ship Henry B. Bigelow
