This expedition is supported by a grant from the Biological Oceanography Program of the National Science Foundation entitled, “Marine Invertebrate Larvae as grazers in the midwater microbial loop.” The project is four years long and includes three research cruises, two in the Bahamas and one (next year) at methane seeps in the Gulf of Mexico.The project is a collaboration among three scientists at the University of Oregon (Craig Young, Michelle Wood, Richard Emlet) and one scientist at Illinois Wesleyan University (Will Jaeckle). Travel support for graduate students participating in the cruise came from a generous grant from Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University.