The boat crew conducted benthic video surveys along the Bullock Reach and Edgewood transects on May 26th. Scale lasers were used in the footage, separated by 29 cm. Visibility through the water column ranged from poor to good.
Both transects were characterized by extensive mud flats, with Bullock Reach also having sparse to dense shell rubble and sporadic boulders. Algal coverage ranged from sparse to dense, Edgewood being categorized by filamentous algae, and Bullock dominated by rafting Ulva; sparse to dense areas of diatom felt were also present. Edgewood’s central observations were large assemblages of egg masses produced by the lugworm Arenicola. Bullock Reach exhibited high biodiversity, featuring rare observations of striped bass, sea robins (photo below), small fish, Arenicola egg masses, and a horseshoe crab. Both transects demonstrated high infaunal activity; large, freshly excavated burrows (most likely mantis shrimp, Squilla) as well as smaller burrows, tubes, and fecal mounds were frequent sights. Additionally, both sites housed sponges, whelks, and boring sponges. Amphipod tube mats were not observed.
Please note: this blog publication has been post-dated to retain chronological order as a backlog of video footage is reviewed.
