Sea Log: 2024-03-08

Published

March 8, 2024

Not much to report from sea today. The swells and wind died down, so science was back on!1 Bongo tonight was less gooey,2 sunset was solid, and I read for a good chunk of time in the sunshine.3

Only thing of note in our nets tonight was a BIG CHONKY pyrosome that was THICCC. And well over a foot long. Somehow I missed the hubbub of when it was pulled out of the nets because I was apparently too lost in the sauce labeling petri dishes!?!?!?4

a large pyrosome in a gallon-sized jar being held up by Grace

Yes that is a gallon jar

sunset over the ocean with streaky clouds

Y’all know the drill

Sea fun fact(s) of the day:

  1. Ben Franklin is my favorite founding father5 and I found out today that pre-US Constitution, during the Articles of Confederation era, there was a State of Franklin that applied for statehood, was denied, but still existed unofficially for a few years!? Though named after him, Ben himself wasn’t really a supporter of the state (he was mostly in Europe by this point of his life, acting as a diplomat for the newly independent American country).6

  2. Pyrosome poop sinks slower than expected/slower than other zooplankton.7

Footnotes

  1. Except for the 6-hour block of time when the Navy told us we had to get out of the particular patch of ocean for unspecified reasons.↩︎

  2. FINALLY↩︎

  3. American Gods is weird and I’m still not sure how to feel about it.↩︎

  4. Labels are exciting but not that exciting?? The vacuum for sucking/filtering water must really drown out a lot more noise than I thought.↩︎

  5. dude was WILD. Would love to have him as a dream dinner party guest if anyone was wondering.↩︎

  6. when the State of Franklin folks wrote to him, Ben essentially said “sry i’m in europe, idk. prob anything useful you’ve already thought of. ttyl if i think of anything useful.”↩︎

  7. stay tuned for a future paper/preso/something from Grace when she eventually publishes poop related content↩︎