Stowaways

Credit: Rebecca Travis © WHOI

Credit: Rebecca Travis © WHOI

Sometimes marine life hops aboard the moorings, making their way to the deck.  The Pioneer team does it best to return the marine life to its natural habitat as quickly as possible.  Examples of stowaways are a small Trigger fish gently held by Pioneer team member Irene Duran.  The fish got caught in the small  ‘cave’ at the interface between the electromagnetic (EM) chain and the Near Surface Instrument Frame (NSIF), and was found as the team disassembled the NSIF for storage.  The fish was returned to the ocean and disappeared in a splash. Chief scientist John Lund holds another stowaway… a small crab, which had walked out of one of the buoy cracks.  The team presumed it was looking for the ocean so quickly returned with hopes that it made it to another safe hiding spot before becoming lunch.