Equipment Used: Dip nets
Estimated Catch: 8 squid, 10 flat
needlefish, 18 crabs, 1 Atlantic sharpnosed shark
Description of catch: Flat needlefish
are shiny silver and bluish, and are very long and skinny. As
their name suggests, they have long, pointed noses, as well as
dark vertical bars along their sides. These fish are usually oceanic,
but also occur in clean coastal waters. The sharpnosed shark was
about a meter long, and it did have a sharp nose. We caught it,
measured it, and released it back into the water. This size is
about as big as they get, so this specimen was probably an adult.
Sharpnosed sharks are rarely seen north of North Carolina, but
on occasion they have been found as far north as the Bay of Fundy.
Other Observations: We can see the
lights of Atlantic Beach. While at anchor, the person on the bridge
keeps the lights on so it is more difficult to see the stars than
when we are underway. Though we did not catch them, we saw at
least three juvenile sailfish (about 50 cm long). Their blue sails
were really obvious underwater. When looking into the water, schools
of fish moved like clouds beneath the surface. The schools would
morph into amazing new shapes over and over again. Unfortunately,
we were not able to dip deep enough to catch any of these fish
for identification.
Equipment Used: Neuston Net
Estimated Catch: 260 gallons of
sargassum that included fewer than 100 fish. (We do not closely
count the numbers of fish. We are usually too busy getting the
next net out to get quantitative data while at sea.)
Description of catch:
- Big bermuda crab
- Banded rudder fish
- Trigger fish
- Sargassum fish
- File fish
- Crabs
- Shrimp
Other Observations: This was an incredible catch. Although we had an overwhelming amount of sargassum, the fish we caught were very small and only partly filled a single one-liter container. The invertebrates filled less than one sandwich-sized Ziploc bag.
