Lots of your comments have mentioned wanting to be here with us and we know we’re lucky!
Because the opportunity to get to the Kermadecs doesn’t come along very often, and because there are many marine experts with different interests who couldn’t be part of this expedition but would still like samples to work on, we are collecting all sorts of material for them.
Malcolm and Peter, for instance, have both been on the look-out for marine algae (seaweeds) for Wendy Nelson at NIWA. While he’s diving, Malcolm keeps an eye out for the kinds of thing Wendy is after – mostly small red and green algae. He gathers these in a plastic bag, and when he returns to the boat puts them in a tray of seawater to float them out into their natural shapes.
Algae to order: Malcolm has a “shopping list” for marine algae from his NIWA colleague who can’t be on the boat
Wendy gave Malcolm a do-it-yourself kit to prepare specimens for the herbarium – a herbarium is basically a library of plants, literally full of sheets of paper covered with dried, pressed plants. Each specimen is mounted on its own card, with details of when and where it was collected, and who collected it.
So, although he is a fish scientist (his t-shirt is a bit of a giveaway, as ichthyology is the study of fish!) Malcolm has spent quite a few evenings arranging the seaweeds to look as natural as possible. He has to make sure the specimens don’t go mouldy, so his bunk is often covered in sheets of paper spread out to dry.
Algae arranging: a little like flower arranging but the aim is to make the algae look as natural as possible
