Meet Juliet!

I’m Juliet Tretler, a graduate student at Nova Southeastern University on my first ever deep sea cruise. I’ve worked with Dr. Tracey Sutton on processing and cataloging samples from previous DEEPEND cruises for the past year, so I was eager to go to sea and see fresh samples of some of the fish I’ve helped preserve.

Today is our second day at Viosca Knoll, and early this morning (1am) our first night time net came up. All of us are falling into a rhythm now with our assigned roles and things are moving smoothly! Myself and another graduate student, Sidney Trimble, have been managing the database of our specimens, measuring, weighing, and logging fish as they are identified.

This morning we caught some Argyropelecus aculeatus, the subject of Sidney’s thesis, but I’m hoping we find some Stromateoids soon! This is a suborder containing medusafishes and driftfishes, which are associated with siphonophores and flotsam.  My thesis work focuses on the abundance and distribution of fishes from the suborder Stromateoidei in the Gulf of Mexico, and their relevance as prey items for large pelagic fishes like tuna and sharks. Historically Stromateoids were not considered major players among mesopelagic fishes, but the advent of projects like DEEPEND have shown that we have likely vastly underestimated their numbers.  T

his first Deep Sea Benefits cruise has already been a learning experience for all of us, and I feel so lucky to be part of this group of scientists! 

That’s all for now, thanks for reading!

Photos:  Sidney measuring a specimen; DEEPEND team sorting the catch.