Monday, April 15, 2019

Moby Crick - by Kayleen F.

We found the cricket. 
 
That's right, there's a cricket on our ship and she's about to become a red-nose cricket. Has any cricket ever been this far south? Has a cricket ever crossed into the Antarctic circle? There's a lack of evidence to suggest so, so let me be the first to introduce you to the brave and bright premiere Antarctic cricket explorer: Moby Crick. Moby's a she, as determined by our scientists who have a suspect amount of training in entomology.


We've been hearing her in the CTD bay for the last week or so, and a  bounty was offered by the captain for her head. The bounty was contingent  upon our brave little explorer being crushed upon retrieval but,  thankfully, our scientists and crew value life far too much to be swayed  by a ship t-shirt.    She's now in a box, equipped with a moist sponge, a banana slice and some  lettuce (entomologists, help, our google is very slow, how do we keep this  poor lady alive??). It was a very exciting moment for all of us, as you  can see by this photo of us all huddled around Moby Crick's enclosure.


We cross into the Antarctic circle tomorrow and have to undergo a ceremony  to become Red Noses. I was assured it doesn't involve hazing in the same  breath that I was told we have to perform in animal costumes, so I'm not  really sure which of those conflicting statements is true. Stay tuned. Or  don't, actually. I'm hoping this is a Fight Club kind of deal and there  won't be pictures of me in whatever kind of costume I can muster up.   

In other news, Joseph has been confined to the refrigerator for his  salinity measurements. I maintain that he has somehow done something  worthy of being confined to a makeshift brig but he insists it's about  "temperature control", whatever that means.



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