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The robot arm on the JSL collects a sample of the sponge Forcepia during this morning's dive.
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Damsel fish swim between the tubes of a sponge, 250 feet below the surface.
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The JSL floats away from the R/V EDWIN LINK before disappearing beneath the surface. |
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Beyond the portholes, the water became some nameless blend of green and blue and gray. Groups of sponges and mats of algae sporadically appeared on the sandy bottom. Although it was, for the most part, a fairly stark scene.
Wright's voice from the sphere crackled over the headset. "Keep an eye out for these sponges," she said, zooming in on a prime Forcepia sample with the sub's video unit. In the back, our monitors displayed the image. "Of course, we'll also be looking for anything else that catches our attention," Wright added.
Dr. Wright surveys the seascape with highly trained eyes. She is looking for animals, like sponges, that are "sessile"-- in other words, animals that are permanently rooted and incapable of moving to escape predation. Animals like these are likely to have developed chemical means of defending themselves. Indeed, life as a stationary sea animal has been likened to living in a state of nonstop chemical warfare. Wright and her colleagues have become chemical warfare experts...able to spot animals that bear the signs of being well-armed. Such animals and their unique, sometimes powerful chemicals make excellent candidates for drug discovery research. Through evolution, these simple animals have developed compounds that humans would never dream of conjuring in the lab. So scientists come here to the chemical battlefield with open eyes and open minds, never knowing when they may uncover a weapon that could be turned against human disease.
Mesmerized as I stared at the passing seafloor, I began to think about the unique view I was being given of the earth. In all likelihood, I thought, no one had ever been to this particular spot on the planet.
After hours that seemed like minutes, we left the bottom and made our way up toward the waiting retreival crew on the Research Vessel EDWIN LINK (RVEL).
August 11, 9:06am, Gulf of Mexico, 80 miles west of Sanibel Island, Florida -- Back on board the RVEL, scientists continue to analyze the chemistry and biology of collected sponge samples. I found principal investigator Dr. Shirley Pomponi in her lab. I'm going to look over her shoulder as she begins the process of dividing a sponge into a collection of individual cells.
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our correspondent, Mark Carroll. |
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