Neat finds this time around

[2:50AM in the middle of the Barents Sea]

This survey is very different from the others I have been on...that being said, of the three surveys I have been on have all been the annual summer mackerel/ecosystem survey. We sample at different depths, which results in a few more species than the summer survey; as deep as 200 m below the surface. A vast majority of what we have gotten is young cod (less than a year old; we call them 0-group). We also get lots of jellyfish. 

This survey is also more exhausting. The stations are closer together, and if they see something interesting on the echosounder they set out the trawl. In our 6 hour shift we can get up to three hauls. It doesn't necessarily make the time go by faster when there's lots of sorting. Most of the hauls have only 4 or 5 different species and they are all around 3 inches long.

I still haven't seen a whale, but there is currently a rough-legged hawk (fjellvåk) hanging out on top of one of the masts likely dehydrated and a case of misdirection. Couldn't get a good picture. 

[Norwegian names clockwise from the bottom right:
torsk (cod), gråsteinbit (wolf fish), polartorsk (polar cod), langebarn, gapeflyndre (American plaice),
sea slug, ringbuk (common sea snail - yes, that's a name of a fish)]

[Mona is helping us sort, Jan Henrik observes]

[Hvalåte; aka the naked sea butterfly (a pelagic sea slug) - these have been my favorite]
[Gapeflyndre/American plaice development stages]

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