Wonders of the Northern Hemisphere
After we crossed the equator, the organisms we found also instantly changed. We soon sailed through an area of sargassum weed. Biologists estimate more than 7 million tons of sargassum gulfweed is floating in the sargasso sea! We are not sailing through the sargasso sea, but we still find loads of it. Unfortunately, the weather was not fit for the manta trawl, but that did not stop our curiosity. Sargassum floats create a habitat for species we otherwise would not find: over fifty species of organisms have adapted specifically to the sargassum, like the well camouflaged sargassum fish. And indeed, we found it!
We were lucky and the sargassum floats continued to accompany us for a few days – on the next manta trawl day it was still there. This time we even caught fish eggs ready to hatch. We took the microscope out and I could attach my camera to it to project the images live on a television screen. We even managed to film a fish egg trying to hatch right in front of our eyes. When would one ever be able to witness this? After a peaceful moment of wonder we continued – fish eyes, crab legs, small crustaceans, we studied it all. I asked some voyage crew to do the narration, and this was soon taken to the next level with weird voices and loads of laughter.
I love days like these, when I, and all who are interested hurdle around our latest catch to share our amazement and wonder (Sara also wrote a beautiful blog about the whole experience!). Deep conversations always start when I go through samples. We talk about the world, nature and our relationship with nature, our youth, our education; whatever animals we
find it always triggers something. It always leads to conversations I rarely find myself in at home. But here, there is the right time and the right setting to dive in, to go a little bit deeper, with people I might not have met in any other circumstance. Viewpoints I wouldn’t have come across.
It has also been a few years since I came across sargassum weed, so I count myself a lucky person today.