New Friends

Alvin Pilot Bruce Strickrott, snapped this photo during Alvin’s 3,906th dive on July 18, 2003. The team had to do a little bit of maneuvering to catch this evasive red squid, likely a less-muscular relative of the ones usually seen closer to the surface, said Chuck Lea, a Professor of Oceanography. The photo was taken just south of Georges Bank at Bear Seamount on the last full day of the nine-day “Mountains in the Sea” research cruise. The dive, which dipped below 5,300 feet, marked the first-ever visual examination of the location, the oldest and westernmost of the New England Seamount chain. (Photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Archives)