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THE MAINE EVENT: FALL 2003 Predation by Gelatinous Zooplankton in the Gulf of Maine MISSION DISPATCH 15 • Friday, September 26, 2003 Location: Oceanographer Canyon (40° 18' N, 68° 07' W) Dispatch by Harry Breidahl - Marine Education Society of Australasia [MESA] As I start to write, JOHNSON SEA-LINK II (JSL II) dive number 3457 is around 800 meters (2600 feet) below us on the last dive for The Maine Event - Fall 2003. It seems like only yesterday that we were preparing for dive number 3436, the first for this research cruise. However, that was nearly three weeks, many dives and one hurricane ago. Now it is time to pack away lab equipment and all manner of other paraphernalia that we brought with us or accumulated on the voyage. Digital images have been organized, collections of zooplankton are cataloged, and all data are backed-up on CD disks, flash memory sticks or external hard drives. As soon as the sub is retrieved, the R/V Seward Johnson will commence a 15- hour transit to Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Tomorrow morning we will dock briefly and offload some gear. The majority of the scientific party will leave the ship and drive or fly home to New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Florida, Spain, Norway and in my case, all the way across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. The R/V Seward Johnson will head south for a 4-day passage to its home base in Fort Pierce, Florida. Eleven pm (2300) now and we are steaming at 11 knots through glassy seas. The night sky is cloudless and star-studded. Some members of the scientific group are busy packing microscopes, computers and samples. Moments ago a few of us went to the bow of R/V Seward Johnson to watch a stunning display of marine bioluminescence. Francesc Pages thought that the organisms responsible for the light show in the bow wake were salps, probably the very same salps Thalia democratica that clogged our seawater intakes earlier in the cruise and upon which sunfish (Mola mola) were seen to feed. I was delighted to hear Francesc refer to the blue-green flashes as the "language of the sea". If that is the case, the surface of the ocean was certainly very noisy tonight. One final treat was shared. As if on cue, four or five bioluminescent streaks headed, torpedo-like, at the bow. It took a couple seconds for us to realize that these plumes marked the movements of a small pod of dolphins. We had seen dolphins riding the bow wave earlier on the cruise but not when the R/V Seward Johnson was traveling at full speed and not at night. The combination of frolicking mammals and bioluminescence was awesome, a showy end to a highly successful and memorable research cruise. As I am sure is the case with the rest of the people on board, my thoughts are now of home, back to the 'real' world. Or perhaps we are leaving the real world behind, a world of gelatinous life drifting about in constant darkness, cold temperature and intense pressure. I take with me many fond memories and a collection of 'deep-sea shrunken' styrofoam cups to return to children in Australian schools. CLICK HERE FOR A MISSION GALLERY The most beautiful experience that we can have is the mysterious...the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science (Albert Einstein). 
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