Picture taking a cruise ship to the Galapagos Islands and marveling at the various species found there. Had you been around the area in 1998, chances are marine biologist Dr. Carol Baldwin and her teammates would be in a submersible 3,000 feet underneath the ocean, collecting species as part of their research.
On Thursday night, the Rensselaer Union Speaker’s Forum welcomed Baldwin for a guest lecture about her Galapagos expeditions. Baldwin was part of a team of researchers who delved into the ocean’s depths on the Johnson Sea Link II submersible. The study of deep sea fish has been the marine biologist’s forte, as she’s spent years looking for creative ways to display information about ocean life. When the Smithsonian approached Baldwin with the chance to be involved in the IMAX 3-D film Galapagos, it was one of her most memorable moments.
There were a total of 15 dives to the ocean floor, and in each dive at least one new species of animal life was discovered, totaling 17 newly discovered species at the end of the expedition. Baldwin had commented that sunlight is lost after hitting 600 feet, so as the submersible travelled deeper towards its 3,000-foot goal, the marine biologists became surrounded by darkness. There were, of course, organisms with bioluminescent properties, so the deep ocean was not entirely pitch-black. “Picture a dark summer night, and it’s raining fireflies,” Baldwin said to describe the view she had seen from the submersible’s window.
To show us the extent of her research, Baldwin played a few clips from her submersible dives. The audience chuckled as the camera displayed the submersible’s small battle with an octopus, and looked on in wonder at the dozens of glowing sea cucumbers swimming across the camera’s view. Baldwin pointed out the newly discovered species of rockfish, sun stars, and anemones, as well as the distinct relation of the new species of ratfish to sharks and stingrays.
As the clips got closer to the surface, organisms became more familiar to the interested crowd. Before we knew it, Baldwin was taking us on a scuba tour near the surface, showing us the docile hammerhead sharks and the columns of barracuda. We even witnessed the indigenous Galapagos sea iguana dive down into the coral, scrounging for food, as well as the island’s sea lions, the “cocker spaniels of the underwater world.” Although we didn’t get a glimpse of the common moray eels, Baldwin had mentioned them to be her worst experience during her scuba diving research. She laughingly told us that “sharks were nothing compared to the eels,” after giving us a small anecdote of some trouble she had with a group of them.
In light of the information that Baldwin gained from her studies of sea organisms and the Earth’s oceans, she has become concerned with the rate of survival for marine life. According to her studies, different species of fish are slowly whittling away to extinction. So, to create public awareness of the ocean’s organisms—and the ocean’s well-being—Baldwin and co-collaborator Julie H. Mounts designed the cookbook One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Bluefish: The Smithsonian Sustainable Seafood Cookbook, which showcases recipes from top chefs such as Mario Batali. In addition to that, Baldwin’s marine research will also become publicized in the opening of a new Smithsonian sea exhibit in the fall of 2008.
For more information on Baldwin’s expeditions and research, she does have a website at http://www.mnh.si.edu/expeditions/galapagos. If you missed her lecture, you can visit the site to see the slides and pictures of the species of fish and other aquatic organisms that she and her colleagues discovered while under the ocean.
