Slip slip slidin’ away

Of course, sharks aren’t the only fish in the ocean. And they aren’t the only fish interested in our bait. Depending on which depth we’re fishing at we’ll not only haul in a different shark species – we’ll pull up all kinds of other fish as well!
One of the PhD students on board is researching tilefish. These fish live on the seafloor in deeper habitats (200-300m). So she was quite excited about us fishing at some deeper stations today and potentially pulling up some tilefish. Interesting side note – because they live at such great depths and we pull them out pretty fast their eyes bulge out and look like they’re about to explode from their heads.
And pull the up we did. At our first deep station we hauled in about eight – one of them weighed 11kg (25lbs)! Yes, that’s a big fish. Another side note – with a few minor exceptions all tilefish are born female and those that grow past a certain size will turn male. Tilefish are quite beautiful. They’ve got yellow markings on the side as well as their fins.
We pulled out a few the second deep haul as well, as well as some kingsnake eels, sharks and Hakes. It was going so quick and we were “down” one person because the tilefish person had decided to take one of the large eels on board to see if it had any tiny tilefish in its stomach and apparently it put up quite the fight. So somebody decided to place all the fish were pulling in right behind me.
Now most of you know that I’m not particularly squeamish, but being trapped between a table trying to take down data with fish flopping behind me (remember we’re talking 2-3 feet), sloshing their slime on my back legs was not a happy moment: “Could somebody get these fish out from behind me?!” The tile person rushed back explaining how the eel hadn’t been to happy, almost escaped but she managed to kill it and put it in the tub. She happily took the remaining tilefish to the back where she slits the gills so they don’t slowly suffocate.
After the haul I was the first to walk back to bring the datasheet into the dry lab. As I was walking past the tub one of the not-so-dead-fish violently flopped, hitting the back of my leg causing me to jump. I landed in the eel slime covering the deck and slide about a meter on one foot before I could balance (all those years of sliding around polished floors in my socks finally paid off!). By the time everyone else made it to the back deck I was busily scrubbing and hosing down the deck.
Where’s the video camera when you really need it?
(PS: Yes Daddy, I was wearing a life jacket)