Wildlife of the Day (Episode 2)

Some sea-surface organisms found in one of last night's box cores.

These turned up in a box core last night. The core was taken at a depth of about 60 m. We're not sure what the long-stemmed things are, but Dale is working on it.

Yes, that is the same Dale who came through with the identification of our "acorn worm" -- see his comment below in the first episode of Wildlife of the Day. Dale is one of the long-core guys. He has a degree in Marine Biology (from Texas A&M Galveston), is currently working at Oregon State, and is, obviously, curious about all things biological.

When Dale split open one of the long-stemmed organisms and looked at it under the microscope, he said it contained spicule-like objects. Could these be sponges of some sort?

Photos by Dale Hubbard

If you can identify these, please send us a comment. Although this is, primarily, a geological (paleoclimate) cruise we love learning about everything we come across out here.