Of Squid and Science...

In addition to poems (sometimes amazing poems written by shipmates like Tara), at ship's meeting, we share reports from the different areas of the boat - the engine room, science lab, and navigation room. Today's most exciting report came from the science crew, because Josh Coronado led our watch in a successful squid jig. Josh caught two squid and I caught one, who I immediately named Princess (Princess is quite the aggressor as it turns out - just a few hours ago, she bit a huge chunk out of another squid's mantle). These squid led our dawn watch to research and learn about photophores for our science report, because these photophores are the source of bioluminescence in the squid. Not much compares to reading about photophores and bioluminescence in a textbook, the physiological and biochemical mechanisms, and then seeing the grand result in our live squid.
Everyday we look forward to these exciting applications of textbook science and everyday we look no further than the Seamans.

-Julie Koenig

Josh Coronado and Julie Koenig observing squid