Rondoletia Loricata

We have just heard we got readers no more no less than in Villajoyosa, Alicante, Coruña, Redmond (Washington), Elche, Princenton (N. Jersey), and even in Menlo Park (California)! And they are not relatives of ours! (most of them aren't anyway...).

Today, Wednesday (you will probably read this tomorrow) is being a great day, which is very nice because it is Javier's birthday (Javier the biologist). We have spent it taking deep water samples -between 1100 and 1300 m-, which are very time consuming because there are lots of precious “little black fishes” (if you would actually look them up in the internet when I tell you, you'd understand) they are not hard work because catches are very scarce, especially for our target species. Most of the fish we have got today is not edible, thus Antonio (our cook) has left empty handed everytime he went for a look... but mothers: do not despair because Antonio and his team are very resourceful and surely there will be a feast awaiting us at dinner time. 

Sorting a deep water haul: Noelia, Yolanda, Rafa and in the background, Javier, the birthday boy

Each deep water haul takes about 2.5 hours because shooting and hauling 2300 m of warp takes a long time, plus 45 minutes for the CTD. Thus at the time of writing we are shooting the fifth and last haul of the day, which will be on board at about nine. We have been fishing in these locations:

L12:	43º 02.68 -	051º 37.47
L13:	42º 57.50 -	051º 29.45
L14:	42º 54.30 -	051º 30.31
L15:	42º 54.88 -	051º 21.18
L16:	42º 57.15 -	051º 22.27

There are a few data left to save, but the first impression is that total fish catch today will be about 500 kg, and made up by 45-55 species. With invertebrates it may go up to 550 kg. The most abundant fish species (with only 30-40 kg) were Antimora rostrata and Synaphobranchus kaupii, animals you really have to look hard at to find any attractive. Luckily, the little black fish have saved the day: Bathysaurus ferox, with the coolest English name ever: deepsea lizardfish. I'd love to hear what my colleague Juan Gil would make of the Spanish version of such name (sorry, Juan, I couldn't resist). And what about this one? Stomias boa boa, estomias in Spanish (sounds like a surgical procedure, boooring!!!) but ... scaly dragonfish in English. A hell of a name, if you ask me. This fish has that mouth often found in deepsea fish, the kind that dislodges the lower jaw to accomodate a prey bigger than the predator itself, thus the easy word game in Spanish is unavoidable, going from dragon to “tragón” which means “avid eater”. Nevertheless, my favourite for the day is Rondoletia loricata, redmouth whalefish. You English native speakers could have done soooo much better with this species.... Oh well, at least is better than “estomias”. Unfortunately our guide on board does not say much about this beautiful fish and I don't know it well enough (shame on me), but will definitely look it up online as soon as I jump ship. And the icing of the cake: Lophodolos acanthognathus, whalehead dreamer. As my NBF Rondoletia, it has an extremely thin, smooth, black and shiny skin, as if made of obsidian, and the Lophodolos also has a bioluminiscent organ on its head to attract prey and two tiny protuberances like the smallest horns ever. You really have to see this...

Bathysaurus

ferox: you cannot see it well in this pic but it has several rows of teeth  curved inwards so nothing escapes.