Jackie and her companion went down the canyon
In a little submarine
They found thousands of egg cases and with smiling faces
Shared what they had seen

Originally posted on Deep Sea News

We are using the Waitt Institute’s Dual DeepWorker submarine to explore the largest underwater canyons in the world, on the Bering Sea shelf break. We’re building on research we began here several years ago, to inform a review of the science and management of the canyons that we expect will lead to new protections for these areas.

As with any deep sea exploration, much of what we are finding is surprising. So far, the most unexpected discovery was a large skate nursery in Zhemchug Canyon, with thousands of egg cases and numerous adult skates. I have been following off and on the discussions at the North Pacific Fishery Management Council about protecting several known skate nurseries, but until seeing one first hand I had little idea what they really looked like!

It was a great dive right from the start. We were on a pinnacle on the western edge of Zhemchug Canyon, and dropped in at 250 meters to find ourselves on a steep wall covered in sponges, corals, and other invertebrates. Just when the slope started to level off, we started seeing the skate eggs. THOUSANDS of skate eggs, piled on top of each other in heaps, as far as we could see (which, to be fair, wasn’t all that far). It looks like they are from either the Bering skate or the Alaska skate – or (so scandalous!) maybe both.

Check out the expedition website for more images and updates. We’ll be diving in Pribilof Canyon next, and then we’re headed up to the Chukchi Sea.