Te Vega Cruise #4

Te Vega Cruise #4 Binder

Cruise itinerary, cruise map, general narrative, station reports = biological data (handwritten).

 

Publications
Fox, Denis L. and Crozier, George F. (1965) Absence or Singular Specificity of Carotenoids in Some Lower Fishes. Science V.150 No, 3697. Page 771-773. SOE CRUISE 4
 

Gordon, M. S., I. Boetius, J. Boetius, D. H. Evans, R. McCarthy and L. Oglesby (1965) Salinity adaptation in the mudskipper fish Periophthalmus sobrinus. Hvalråd. Skr. 48, 85–93 (1965) SOE CRUISE 4
 

Gordon, Malcom S. et. al. (1968) Additional observations on the natural history of the mudskipper, Periophthalmas sobrinus. Copeia 1968 (4) 853-857.  SOE CRUISE 4
 

 

School-On-The-Sea Seeks Fossil Fish

 

An expedition that may bring back alive one of the world's most primitive fishes began last week under the leadership of Stanford's saltiest scientist, Prof. Rolf Bolin of the Hopkins Marine Station. STANFORD'S seagoing biology laboratory, the 135-foot schooner Te Vega, has sailed from Port Louis on Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean. In addition to other marine bio'ogical research, the vessel's scientists hope to capture the coelecanth, a living fossil fish found in the cold (50-60° F.) black depths (500-600 feet) off the Comoro Islands. IF THEY CAN catch several and keep them alive in special tanks aboard the Te Vega, at least one cnelecanth can go to San Francisco's Steinhardt Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. In that case Dr. Earl S. Herald, aquarium curator, plans to fly out and speed the fish back in a tank aboard the airplane. At Golden Gate Park an 8,000-gallon refrigerated whirlpool tank, built especially for coelecanths, awaits the rare fish. TWO DAYS is the longest a coelecanth has been kept alive—not by scientists but by fishermen using a submerged dory. Until one was caught in 1938, the fish was thought to have become extinct about 60 million years ago. Sometimes called "the fish with four legs," the coelecanth is the only living member of the "crossoptergian" class. Crossoptergians are believed to be ancestral to all the higher forms of vertebrate life. THE COELECANTH was thought to mature at around five feet in length and more than 150 pounds, but there are recent indications of smaller species about 12 to 18 inches long. The present voyage will be the Te Vega's third cruise as part of the International Indian Ocean Expedition (IIOE). This is a cooperative effort by scientists of 28 nations working from shore stations and from more than 40 research vessels to explore 28 million square miles of one of the wrold's least-known seas. When the ship heads for the Comoros there will be seven graduate students aboard taking a regular university course, Biology 222h (Biological Oceanography) under fellowship from the National Science Foundation.