Marine Biologists and graduate students from five different institutions will participate in a 12-day research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico (Sept 24-Oct 6, 2009). Using a Johnson-Sea-Link submersible capable of diving to 3000 ft. (nearly 1000 m), they will explore marine canyons, brine pools, mud volcanoes, deep coral reefs,  and other deep-sea habitats,  collecting a wide variety of deep-water mussels, snails, corals, worms, shrimp and other animals. The microscopic larvae (babies) of these animals will be studied to determine what they eat and how they feed while they swim for months in the dark waters of the deep ocean.

The Johnson-Sea-Link submersible is carried and launched by a research ship, the R/V Seward Johnson, which has a home port at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University in Ft. Pierce, Florida. The scientists and their students will sail from Gulfport, Mississippi on the evening of September 25.

The exact itinerary of the ship will be determined by the success of various science objectives, but potential dive sites include Vioska Knoll, Mississippi Canyon, Green Canyon, Bush Hill, and Garden Bank.  Many of these sites are near offshore oil drilling platforms.

Weather permitting, the scientists will make two submersible dives each day. Much of the work, however, will be done in the shipboard laboratories. Scientists will collect water samples and environmental data with a CTD rosette that is lowered into deep water with a cable. Water samples taken at various depths will be analyzed for microscopic organisms such as cyanobacteria that might serve as food for larval forms. The scientists will also use a computer-controlled net system called MOCNESS for collecting microscopic larvae and other planktonic animals from various depths.

The ship will return to Gulfport on October 5.