Thursday, 16 October 2008
Demersal Trawling
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Before I left Grahamstown, Eric Anderson, SAIAB’s expert on deeper water fishes, told me that the deeper waters around the Mascarene Plateau were very poorly explored and that many species caught in waters around 300 m deep are likely
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Among the more interesting species landed was a black snoek, Thyrsitoides marleyi,
not far short of 2 m long, held up in the photo by Jackie Hill, and also a sawshark, Pliotrema warreni, whose toothy snout became so entangled in the netting that it had to be cut free. Other common fishes are a variety of trigger fishes, fusiliers, butterfly fishes and other tropical reef fishes. The opening of the codend at the end of each trawl continues to be eagerly anticipated, to see what new species spill out on to the deck
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Image captions (top to bottom): A collection of fishes from the trawl awaiting sampling of muscle tissue for genetic analysis; Balistoides conspicillum; Lactoria fornasini; Apolemichthys trimaculatus; Sargocentron spiniferum; A very colourful mantis shrimp trawled from 50 m depth; (bottom left): Jackie holding a large black snoek trawled at 300 m depth; and (bottom middle): A sawshark, Pliotrema warreni, caught at 200 m depth.
Text and images by Denis Tweddle & Oddgeir Alvheim
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