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October 3, 2016

First dive of the expedition

BY: Ricardo Aguilar

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We left port about 10 and sailed to the Jounieh canyon to test the equipment. We were checking and solving the typical problems we encounter on the first few days with the CTD, ROV, winch, etc. So we have nothing particularly interesting to report.

While we were preparing the equipment, a group of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) came close to the boat. They had a baby dolphin with them.

Then we tried out the ROV over a muddy seabed at the head of the canyon, at a depth of about 260 metres.

The seabed was covered with arborescent agglutinated foraminifera, quite possibly of the genus Pelosina. We were able to see a few fish, such as greeneye (Chlorophthalmus agassizi), seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo), and scorpionfish (Scorpaena sp.), as well as various marine worms (Bonellia viridis) and sea urchins (Cidaris cidaris), in addition to plastic and other rubbish.

We also checked that the dredge was working properly. Muddy seabed with an “orangutan” crab (Spinolambrus macrochelos) and pteropod, snail and bivalve shells (Clio pyramidata, Rissoidae, Nuculidae, etc.).

We hope that tomorrow we have more time to investigate the seabed and more interesting things to report.

Now, we are sailing due north.