Gray's Reef Research Cruise April 16-22, 2004: Just Where Are All Those Fish Coming From Anyway? PHOTO GALLERY (Click to see images from the cruise!) Click images below for Daily Logs April 16 April 19 April 20 April 21 April 22 Our collaborating research scientists asked questions just like that (“Just where are all those fish coming from anyway?”) when they conducted their studies in NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary, April 16 – 22, 2004. In this research cruise, scientists studied fish that are attracted to Gray’s Reef’s diverse habitats. They sought to find out if the larval fish within sanctuary boundaries are coming from other areas outside of the sanctuary into it or if they actually come from parent fish that spawn and lay eggs within the sanctuary. They also tried to determine which larval and juvenile reef fish settle directly to reef habitats within the sanctuary. The answers to these questions will help scientists and managers better protect the sanctuary habitats and conserve the fish and other living resources within NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Each day during the cruise scientists recorded a log of the day’s activities so you can follow the progress of their research. You may also ask questions of the scientists by sending them to April Fendley at April.Fendley@noaa.gov. She will forward your questions directly to the scientists, and their answers will be posted on the Gray’s Reef website along with your questions. ABOUT GRAY’S REEF NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary encompasses 20 square miles of ocean floor of the South Atlantic Bight. The largest part of the sanctuary is sand that covers a harder substrate of calcitic and aragonitic limestone. Soft corals and sponges frequently populate those sand areas. Only about 1% or 70 acres of the sanctuary is what most would call reef. That smallest part of the sanctuary consists of rock outcrops (again comprised of calcitic and aragonitic limestone) that have ridges, slopes, ledges and troughs, which host communities of plants and animals. Most of the plants are algae like Sargassum weed and Sea lettuce. Most of the animals are invertebrates of various sizes, shapes and colors like soft and hard corals, sponges, tunicates, crabs, urchins, sand dollars, and snails. Living in the sandy areas are other communities of plants and animals that are typically much smaller than the ones that live on the surface of the various substrates. These animals we playfully refer to as “sea monsters in the sand” because when viewed through a microscope they look like monsters in a science fiction movie with their wicked looking mouthparts. Those mouthparts as wicked as they may seem to us are actually well suited for helping the animals that possess them access the available food sources in that sand. The “sea monsters in the sand” actually have names like moonsnails, bloodworms, peanut worms, lampshells, tusk shells, and echinoid sand dollars. Additionally fish of all sizes, shapes and colors are attracted to the inhabitants of the reef tops and sand areas where they find food and havens to avoid becoming a meal them selves. Fish like Hammerhead sharks, Manta rays, groupers, snappers, drums, and Moray eels inhabit Gray’s Reef. Larger animals like Loggerhead sea turtles, Bottlenose dolphins, Ocean sunfish and occasionally even Northern Right Whales can be seen at Gray’s Reef. All of these plants and animals, large and small, are interdependent and make up the complex system that is known as NOAA’s Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. ABOUT THE NANCY FOSTER Nancy Foster was originally built as a Navy yard torpedo test (YTT) craft. The Navy transferred the vessel to NOAA in 2001 and NOAA outfitted the ship to conduct coastal research along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Nancy Foster is named for Dr. Nancy Foster, in tribute to her outstanding contributions in advancing NOAA’s mission through her leadership within the National Marine Fisheries Service and National Ocean Service from 1986 until 2000. Nancy Foster continues the work of it's predecessor, Ferrel, in support of NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management and the National Sea Grant College Program. Operations include the characterization of various habitats in NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries, pollution assessment, and studies to improve understanding of the connection between marine habitats and estuaries. Nancy Foster is capable of trawling for bottomfish, sediment sampling, conducting side-scan sonar surveys, providing support for an ROV, and servicing oceanographic/atmospheric surface and subsurface buoys. For more information on the Nancy Foster, you can visit http://www.moc.noaa.gov/nf/index.html.