CTD rosette being recovered. CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, Depth measurement instrument.

CTD rosette being recovered. CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, Depth measurement instrument.

CTD rosette being deployed at sunset. CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, Depth measurement instrument.

CTD rosette being recovered. CTD stands for Conductivity, Temperature, Depth measurement instrument.

One of the fun things to do with CTD's and other instrument packages that go to great depth is to attach styrofoam cups to the instrument. The water pressure at depth shrinks the cups. These are two cups prior to going to great depths.

The small shrunken cups in this image are the same ones that were seen before going to depth in image fish2809, the previous image.

Preparing a CTD rosette for taking measurements and water samples at the Deep Water Horizon oil spill site.

Preparing a CTD rosette for taking measurements and water samples at the Deep Water Horizon oil spill site.

CTD operations at night on the NOAA Ship PISCES. CTD instrument is far below attached to the wire line.

CTD operations at night on the NOAA Ship PISCES. CTD instrument is far below attached to the wire line.

Obtaining water samples from water bottles attached to CTD rosette that are opened at different depths.

CTD rosette being deployed and going down.

CTD rosette being deployed and going down.

CTD rosette being recovered.

Taking water sample for further analysis from CTD rosette on board NOAA ship PISCES.

Deploying Aleutian wing trawl off NOAA Ship PISCES

Picking small fish and gelatinous life forms from meshes of Aleutian wing trawl used during Sperm whale predation studies

Aleutian wing trawl being hauled in

Mending Aleutian wing trawl net.

Shaking out the cod end of a semi-pelagic high-opening trawl. Operations during small pelagic fish study in the Gulf of Mexico.

Preparing to dump cod end of trawl into hopper, part of the ship ladder system for conveying fish to wet lab

Preparing to dump cod end of trawl into hopper, part of the ship ladder system for conveying fish to wet lab

Preparing to dump cod end of trawl into hopper, part of the ship ladder system for conveying fish to wet lab

Dumping the catch into the hopper preparatory to conveying fish to wet lab for scientific processing.

Hopper with ladder for conveying fish to wet lab for analysis

Small pelagic fish (mainly croakers) captured during scientific trawling operations.

Primarily small pelagic fish. Largest fish is a red snapper.

Scientific party sorting fish in wet lab

Scientific party sorting fish in wet lab

Weighing, measuring, and counting fish from scientific trawling operations in wet lab of the NOAA Ship PISCES. Fisheries Scientific Computing System FSCS is the special program developed for this task.

Preparing to dump cod end of trawl into hopper, part of the ship ladder system for conveying fish to wet lab. Lifting strap attached and deck hand holding tag line to control motion of bag when lifted.

Natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) trawl being recovered from meso-bathypelagic depths - trawling at approximately 1400 meters depth

NRDA trawl - setting herring trawl for meso-bathypelagic depths

Hauling in Aleutian wing trawl during sperm whale predation survey

Hauling in Aleutian wing trawl during sperm whale predation survey - picking small organisms adhering to net for further study.

Hauling in Aleutian wing trawl during sperm whale predation survey - picking small organisms adhering to net for further study.

Hauling in Aleutian wing trawl during sperm whale predation survey - picking small organisms adhering to net for further study.

Mending nets at night

Deploying Aleutian wing trawl on sperm whale predation survey.

Deploying a corer from the A-frame of the NOAA Ship PISCES. This device is used to sample bottom sediments.

Deploying a corer from the A-frame of the NOAA Ship PISCES. This device is used to sample bottom sediments.

Deploying a corer from the A-frame of the NOAA Ship PISCES. This device is used to sample bottom sediments.

Attaching a netsonde acoustic pinger to the coring instrument. This will allow the scientific party monitoring its descent to the bottom to know how far off the bottom it is. This in turn will allow them to control the final rate of descent for placing the instrument on the bottom.

Return to the surface of the coring instrument. The core tubes have substantial amounts of sediment indicating a successful deployment.

A core tube full of brown mud which will be analyzed by the scientific party on board the NOAA Ship PISCES.

A core tube full of brown mud which will be analyzed by the scientific party on board the NOAA Ship PISCES.

Scientist measuring the amount of bottom material retrieved with the coring device.

Scientist sampling the core material for further study.

Scientist working with coring tubes at sunset.

Looking down to the water as a CTD rosette is deployed.