June 24, 2009

6-24-09

While I was busy wishing for a dramatic battle between orcas and humpbacks, it turned out that trials of life were unfolding in our bongo nets this early morning. There was another striking collection of bioluminescence, setting the stage for what we were about to find. After we emptied the cod ends into the cooler, Tracy spotted a small jellyfish, and quickly noticed it was eating a krill alive! The krill’s body was engulfed by the gelatinous predator, with only its tail hanging out squirming futilely as it was slowly paralyzed and dissolved into the medusa of the killer jelly. Ever since I saw the movie “Jaws” it has been a fear of mine to be eaten alive. The movies “The Edge” and “Anaconda” didn’t help matters either. At least in “Jaws 3” a victim gets his revenge after death by holding onto the hand grenade via rigor mortis for others to detonate. I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the krill, but that’s the way it goes when you are a big pillar of the food chain.

While one krill was being eaten alive, another was being violently parasitized. At first glance the krill was extremely swollen and dark colored due to the same parasitic ciliates mentioned in an earlier blog. Despite its dire state of being, the krill was still swimming around the collection dish. Minutes later we glanced at the krill again and it had exploded “Alien” style releasing its guts and the ciliates into the water. The innards eruption was actually even more violent than in the sci-fi classic. In the movie the alien would simply break a hole through the stomach of the victim, but right in front of us the tail of the krill had been blown completely off, separating the krill into two lifeless halves! In the picture you can only see the body with out the tail. Two curious copepods are swimming nearby. All of this carnage helped me appreciate the challenges that krill face in their life cycle. They are certainly a hot prey item or host for many different types of animals, not just the giant baleen whales we are all so familiar with.

With my new found respect for our krill samples and their precious eye extracts, we returned to the lab to continue analysis. The autosampler, which was shown last blog, is the third section from the top on the left side of the liquid chromatography instrument. The pump, which pushes the sample extract and solvents through the instrument, is the bottom-right section. The solvents are in the top-right section. The fluorescence detector, which measures the amount of lipofuscin or other target compound in the sample extract, is the top left section of the instrument. After running many samples some of the parts on the autosampler were clogged and had to be replaced. Rachel, cruise rockstar, was on top of things as usual. From big animals, down to the little animals, there is plenty of excitement to witness at sea. Since there are so many more small creatures than big ones out here, the smaller you go, the greater commotion you are likely to encounter.

-Eli