Canyon Fishes
Squid, Dall's Porpoise and Pacific Ocean Perch exhibit no apparent aversion to our submarine visits beneath the waves, but I wonder how other fishes respond to our presence. A multitude of studies indicate that marine organisms -- from larval barnacles to great whales -- respond to underwater noise. And, yes, some frequencies of sound cause fish to change their behavior as well. Are we "noisy" underwater? Quite simply, YES! If you listen to our underwater tapes, you'll hear all the racket .... The submarines are basically a collection of motors, pumps and systems for communicating with surface. Thrusters each have a high pitched whine, hydraulic motors and pumps for the manipulator arm, sonar transponders and the underwater telephone each put out various sounds into the briny deep.
Whether these sounds are masked by sounds from ships overhead, by whales chattering away underwater, or other ambient noises in the sea, I cannot be certain. Within a short range of the sub, I imagine that creatures detect some pretty peculiar sounds.
Then there's the light. In a relatively dark environment, the quartz, HMI, LED, flashing beacon, and interior lights from sonar screen, compass, computer screen, and other sources must illuminate the canyons in a manner rarely experienced by sea creatures.
Intuitively, I must think that there are many fish and invertebrates that may keep their distance as we descend in the subs. Nonetheless, we have been incredibly fortunate to observe quite a number of species in the canyons in situ for the first time. Highlights of our fish observations thusfar include blob sculpin, grenadier, three species of red rockfish -- including many many juveniles, eelpouts, sablefish (blackcod), myctophid lampfish, prowfish, and several wonderful species of transluscent to rubbery bodied snailfishes!
I'll continue posting fish findings as we extract photos from the underwater images. The only fish we actually collected were "volunteers" ... Pacific Ocean Perch that somehow jammed themselves in between the submarine frame and batery pods and two myctophids that came up in the submarine collection baskets ... fortuitously caught during ascent.
Here's a rockfish with her boulder in Zhemchug Canyon. Invertebrates on the boulder include a huge crinoid (top right), basket star (center), brachiopods (top center), seastars and several species of anenome.
