Underwater cinematographer Norbert Wu joined the lionfish collection team on two dives today in the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”
At the first, a shipwreck in 18 fathoms (108 ft) of water, Norb reported, “There was a severe thermocline at about 100 feet. Below this, the water was very cold, green, and full of marine snow.” A thermocline is a temperature transition zone between warmer surface water and colder deep water.
“I followed Brian Degan around a bit and got shots of Brian spearing lionfish.” The collection of lionfish for dissection is critical to understanding their genetic history, reproductive systems, and what they eat. “At one point, a sand tiger shark was harassing him a bit for his fish.” Brian, one of the NOAA Beaufort Lab technicians, started diving just three years ago, and swiftly advanced to technical diving.
Norb filmed Dr. Wilson Freshwater too, collecting algae samples for fellow University of North Carolina researchers while an audience of spadefish watched.
Later in the day the team dove again, this time on the CITY OF HOUSTON – a freighter that sank in 1878. It was one of the team’s shallower dives, at 90 feet, in waters full of a myriad of small tropical fish – but no lionfish. Few of the dives have produced no lionfish, so it was good news for the environment … but disappointing for the ‘guts and gizzards team’ waiting topside for specimens to dissect.
[Editors note: Photo of Norb Wu by Doug Kesling]