Substation News by Substation Curacao

u Smithsonian deep

reef exploration dive at K lein Curaçao . . . . . . . . . . . .

u Wetlab

serves its purpose . . . . . . . .

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year for C hapman and curasub . . . . . . . . . .

u New species for both Curaçaos . . . . . . . . . . . .

u Busy

I S S UE 2

u Pat Colin deep into sponges ...........................6

YEAR 2013

Research Centre CURAÇAO

“ S U B S TAT I O N , C U R A S U B A N D RV C H A P M A N J O I N F O R C E S ”

Before you lies Volume I, issue 2 of the Chapman Curasub Newsletter. As we announced in our first issue we intend to publish this newsletter on a regular basis, bringing you the latest news about Substation, the Curasub and the Chapman and about the contribution our organizations are making in the world of marine sciences. We hope you’ll enjoy the information and pictures in this newsletter. As you can see we changed the title and the lay-out somewhat. Our intention however remains the same: to keep you up to date about our endeavors, our progress and our discoveries. For any info you might want to add or questions you might have, feel free to contact us at research@substation-curacao.com.

FIRST ‘LANDING’ FOR SMITHSONIAN SCIENTISTS

or the first time since they started with their research activities in Curaçao, a group of scientists from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington went on a deep reef exploration dive at Klein Curaçao. The Smithsonian group consisted of Carole Baldwin (National Museum of Natural History), Cristina Castillo (National Museum of Natural History and Laboratories of Analytical

Biology), Lee Weigt and intern Lowen Wachhaus (both of the Laboratories of Analytical Biology), Ross Robertson (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute) and Julie Piraino (Smithsonian Marine Station in Ft. Pierce). Dr. Jerry Harasewych (National Museum of Natural History), who was also scheduled to come, unfortunately had to cancel his trip last minute. On that first dive with the

From day one the Smithsonian crew was hard at work. From left to right Ross Robertson, Carole Baldwin, Lee Weigt, Cristina Castillo en Lowen Wachhaus.

Curasub on Klein Curaçao the scientists brought up several fish, invertebrates and other aquatic material that may very well result in the discovery of yet another batch of new species. Measuring, documenting and photographing everything they brought up was all done on board in an especially designed space on the main deck of the Chapman. Although not quite finished, the space kept them out of the scorching sun and instead adequately provided them with the working area they required.

The first batch of marine life the Smithsonian scientists brought up contained amongst other things a beautiful slit shell and the sponge the shell fed on.

Research Centre CURAÇAO

I S S UE 2

YEAR 2013

ARMS AID RESEARCHERS’ STUDY INTO DIVERSITY OF CORAL REEF

lthough Dr. Jerry Harasewych could not be present himself, his Smithsonian colleagues retrieved rolled up mat that he had set down on the deep reef late last year to determine which organisms would settle on or burrow into it within a certain time frame. On the way with the Curasub to retrieve the mat, the researchers also checked up on the several ‘Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures’

(ARMS) standing at approximately 400 feet and intended to enable them to study the diversity of coral reef organisms by analyzing the life forms that take up residence in these structures. The ARMS will be left underwater for about a year before being retrieved and studied. In the picture in the background some of the ARMS structures, with the mat that was retrieved in the front.

Working ‘till late in the evening, research definitely is not a ‘nine to five’ job

WETLAB-IN -THE MAKING SERVES SCIENTISTS WELL

hat the ‘wetlab’ on board the Chapman was not quite finished, did not stop visiting researchers from the Smithsonian Instution in Washington from making good use of that small area on the Chapman. They had to make do with a tarp to prevent the strong wind at Klein Curaçao from blowing away some of their lighter specimen, but the work definitely got done. The working station had enough room to both display all the fish and organisms they brought up, as well as to serve as a writing desk for the documentation that needed to be done.

The lighting was also more than sufficient, seeing that the researchers worked well into the night to get everything done. But it wasn’t all work and no play for the Smithsonian group: led by Dr. Carole Baldwin, the wetlab also served as a ‘kitchen’ where several dozen of Lionfish, speared by the Curacao Sea Aquarium ichthyologist Joe Oliver and invertebrate zoologist Manuel Jove were cleaned and skillfully cut into delicate slices of sashimi. The Smithsonian group had apparently anticipated getting their hands on the tasty Lionfish, because Dr. Baldwin had even come armed with Wasabi paste and soy sauce as a dipping sauce.

Sashimi doesn’t get any fresher than this… The sea around Klein Curaçao also showed an abundance of Lionfish

Research Centre CURAÇAO

I S S UE 2

YEAR 2013

KENSINGTON TOURS CHECKS OUT OUR SHIP AND SUBMARINE

he Chapman and the Curasub are starting to attract not only scientists, but also the interest of organizations like Kensington Tours, a travel organization that specializes in custom tours to over 90 countries worldwide. Kensington Tours recently delegated its Director Strategic Product Development, Ms. Eimear Duggan and Senior Sales Consultant Mr. Laurent Pinci to join the shakedown cruise with the Chapman to Klein Curaçao. These seasoned experts checked out the possible tailor-made experiences that the ship and the submarine would be able to offer to Kensington clients.

Apart from twice going down in the Curasub and admiring the underwater world of both Curaçao as well as Klein Curaçao, the two executives also got their feet wet. Laurent Pinci who for 10 years used to run a dive tour company, donned scuba gear for a highly enjoyable ‘oneon-one’ experience with the turtles frequenting the island, while Eimear Duggan

borrowed mask, snorkel and flippers and assisted DNA-expert Lee Weigt and his intern Lowen Wachhaus in collecting shallow water fish. Kensington Tours was set up by Jeff Willner, an avid traveller himself. His company offers its clients the opportunity to experience the extraordinary. Whether these clients are looking for value adventures, premium tours or the most exclusive activities, properties and amenities, Kensington Tours, as an award-winning travel company that spans the globe, is able to present them with experiences that endure.

Eimear Duggan and Laurent Pinci

2013 PROMISES TO BECOME A BUSY YEAR FOR THE CHAPMAN AND THE CURASUB

Dutch and part of the Smithsonian group after a fruitful first dive with the Curasub on Klein Curaçao

he year 2013 might prove to become a very busy year for the Chapman and the Curasub, with the first two months of the year showing several deployments of both vessels. January just being 4 days old, the Chapman set out for its first trip out of the harbor, with a mere 8 days later the Curasub also leaving ‘the big’ island and venturing into the deep reefs at Klein Curaçao and repeating this adventure on the 25th of January. The first ‘real scientific’ trips however were undertaken in the month of February with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington and the

American National Cancer Society boarding the ship and settling in the never before inhabited cabins of the Chapman. Although the results from the several collecting trips with the submarine have not yet been made public and the possible discovery of even more new species still need to be confirmed, researchers from other countries are getting to realize that they need to catch up and join ‘the bandwagon’ so as not to be left behind in the field of marine discoveries. That’s why mails are now starting to come in inquiring about future trips with the Chapman and dives in other locations with the Curasub.

Research Centre CURAÇAO

I S S UE 2

YEAR 2013

‘BOTH’ CURAÇAOS YIELDING NEW SPECIES W hen it comes to discovering new species, the ‘big island’ Curaçao was recently joined by Klein Curaçao. On the deep reefs of this small island, some 10 kilometers southeast of Curaçao, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution

They also found a rare deepwater Sand dollar (Clypeaster cyclopilus).

Icing on their discovery cake however formed the collection of what Carole Baldwin called a “lovely new species” from the deep reefs off Curaçao.

This new find that right now is being described by her and Dr. Ross Robertson, is a small female blenny fish of about 21mm in length and is only the second known species in the genus Haptoclinus. Klein Curaçao is approximately 1.7 kilometers long with a maximum width of 750 meters. In 1871 the Englishman John Godden discovered a

rich deposit of phosphate on Klein Curaçao. Because extraction was pretty expensive, phosphate mining was discontinued in 1913. The excavation of a total of 90,000 tons of phosphate however resulted in lowering the island’s surface by almost ten feet. For navigational purposes a 20 meter high lighthouse was built on Klein Curaçao.

on their most recent trip discovered an unidentified brittle star (Asteroschema) on a gorgonian coral.

The new blenny that has the Smithsonian crew really excited.

A century ago Klein Curaçao’s elevation was at least ten feet higher.

BEAUTIFUL CATSHARK BROUGHT UP FROM A DEPTH OF 960 FEET

From an incredible depth of 960 feet the Curasub recently brought up this deepwater catshark that was identified as Scyliorhinus hesperius, the Whitesaddled Catshark. The distinctive dark bar under the eyes is characteristic of that species. The 18 inches long Catshark in the meantime is doing quite well. In the Curaçao Sea Aquarium’s coldwater wetlab it has adapted to the change in pressure and temperature and has been living comfortably on the pieces of fresh squid that it is being fed.

Research Centre CURAÇAO

I S S UE 2

YEAR 2013

SLIT SHELLS ARE MORE THAN JUST AN ANCIENT GROUP OF MOLLUSKS

f the marine life that is being brought up with the Curasub, “slit snails” are of interest to both shell collectors for their beauty as well as to the scientific world because of the secretion they emit when being set upon by predators.

distribution and with all of the known species inhabiting very deep water beyond the continental shelf, it has until just recently been pretty difficult to obtain specimens. The first living specimens of a species in this family, Perotrochus quoyanus, were

A Slit Shell eating away at a glass sponge, its excretion from the “anal fasciole” clearly visible.

The “Slit Shells”, as these Pleurotomariidae are commonly called, are an ancient group of mollusks characterized by their long, narrow notch, or slit, and their trochoid shape. They are described as “a family of large marine gastropods in the clade Vetigastropoda”. A family that can boast a very ancient lineage, going back as far as the Cambrian period, which is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, that started some 541 million years ago and lasted about 40 million years. Slit snails are not very abundant and because they only live in deep water, scientists have not been able to study too many living slit snails up to now. With a mainly tropical and subtropical worldwide

and fish, but are remarkably resistant to attack. They secrete a white milky fluid when being set upon by predators. Scientists have come to the conclusion that the secretion holds a certain neurotoxic quality that helps repel the snail’s predators. The milky fluid apparently stuns the predators long enough for the snail to make its escape. The shell has a deep slit or sinus in the outer superior margin of the peristome, which serves the purpose of an exhalant phase of respiration.The slit is sealed up gradually behind the advancing aperture as the shells grows in size. One of the scientist’s goals when collecting slit snails is to obtain tissue samples for DNA sequencing. The samples would be used in

from throughout the Caribbean to determine relationships and biogeographic patterns. Another goal is to be able to sample exudate from the hypobranchial gland of the species. This can be done without injury to the snail, as a soft plastic pipette is used to harvest the milky fluid. Laboratory research and artificial reproduction of the neurotoxin in the snail’s excretion might even lead to new developments in the pharmaceutical industry, is shell expert Dr. Jerry Harasewych’s belief. On the most recent trips with the Curasub a couple of rather large Slit shells were collected. Most were gathered while they were eating away at sponges. That’s why in all cases not only the Slit shells but also

dredged in 1879 in deep water off the West Indies by the “Blake” expedition of William Healey Dall. In the past years most of the specimens that have been brought to the surface were fished up using deep water traps and by trawling. New fishing techniques, new technology and the use of submersibles have in recent years made the slit shells easier accessible. Species in the family On an earlier expedition the scientists also managed to pick up a “baby” slit Pleurotomariidae can live snail. The adult snail next to the little one can be seen excreting the milky as deep as 2000 to 3000 fluid that it uses to rid itself of predators. meters on, in, or near the a broader molecular survey parts of the sponges they seabed. They feed primarily of the pleurotomariid were found on and crinoids on sponges, and supplement fauna from throughout the that sat in their vicinity were their diet with crinoids and Caribbean molecular survey taken up to the surface for octocorals in the wild. In of the pleurotomariid fauna further study. aquaria they also feed on fish and clam tissue. They themselves are preyed upon by crustacean, octopi

Research Centre CURAÇAO

I S S UE 2

YEAR 2013

PAT COLIN AND HIS CREW DIVE DEEP INTO THE WORLD OF SPONGES

r. Pat Colin, co-founder of the Coral Reef Research Foundation, a non-profit corporation, which won the highly-prized U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) marine collections program contract, had the pleasure of being the first international scientist to participate in the Chapman’s first trip to the most western part of Curaçao. There he joined Dutch and the crew of the Curasub in their ‘maiden’ dive onto the Every marine organism brought up is never before explored deep carefully studied and documented. reefs at Westpoint Bay. Pat, who was accompanied by divers Don Demaria and Lee Zagrillo, is especially interested in the sponges that can be found at great depths. Over the last two years he has been collecting several of these marine organisms on Lee, Pat and Don posing for the the Curasub’s house reef. camera.

Preliminary studies have shown that some of the sponges he collected on earlier trips to Curaçao contain bacteria that have qualities that may be very helpful in the search for the treatment of cancer. Using an underwater camera that Pat brought with him to Curaçao and which was attached to one of the manipulating arms of the sub, the collecting of the vast amount of specimen was carefully documented.

All the while the Curasub’s own video camera was also nonstop recording the techniques used for getting sponges and other marine life in the collecting basket or in the transparent pod the sub carries along for the safekeeping of small deep reef fish.

Don and Lee tending to the packaging of the shallow reef sponges they brought up.

DNA SEQUENCING WILL DETERMINE IF ANOTHER NEW SPECIES WAS DISCOVERED

ne of the fish that was known to the researchers but had never before been collected with the Curasub, was the ‘Serranus notospilus’, a fish that is very similar to the ‘Tattler’, Serranus luciopercanus. The Saddle bass that was collected by the Smithsonian crew at Klein Curaçao, lives in the deep reef in a depth range of 75 to 165 meter environment and is known from Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean. While the scientists documented it as the Serranus notospilus, the specimen they brought up at Klein Curaçao will be

carefully compared to representatives of the species from more northern locations because morphological and DNA comparisons may show that there are two or more species. In the pictures an image of the species collected from the Saba Bank and DNA expert Lee Weigt preparing the specimen that was collected at Klein Curaçao for shipment to the Smithsonian lab in Washington.

Curaçao Research Centre p/a Curaçao Seaquarium Park Bapor Kibrá z/n Curaçao The Serranus notospilus looks very similar to the Tattler

Editor: Laureen Schenk Design and lay-out: Chris Richards Pictures: Barry Brown Pat Colin Smithsonian Institution Substation Curaçao

Lee Weigt packing the collected specimen