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Indisputable Evidence

November 28, 2013

The tip of this swordfish bill was found embedded in a deep-sea mooring in the 1980s. For years, WHOI engineers suspected that fish were damaging mooring components by biting them, calling the phenomenon “fish bite.” But some doubted the theory—that is until engineers started seeing evidence like this swordfish bill on recovered moorings. The bill has come to represent the challenges WHOI engineers face when they deploy moorings. “It reminds me that when we put things in the ocean, the unthinkable can sometimes happen,” said Rick Trask, manager of WHOI’s Mooring and Rigging Shop.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)