Seals for Real

Hey all,

Here are the seal pictures i said i'd show so long ago. they've been sitting on my camera for a while. after we stole the fish, you can see how ugly it is as i hold it, getting ready to put it in the tank at the Crary Lab aquarium. this is the Antarctic Cod (or mawsoni, i'm not sure if i spelled that right), that live on the bottom and taste great- like halibut. we got to eat some for dinner last saturday. the seals will dive all the way to the bottom and chase these things down, grab them with their claws and work their way up to the head. then the seals drag the fish to the surface in their mouth, holding it by the jaw, to take a little rest. they'll dive down again and chew off its head, take another breather, then go back down and start eating it. we stole two fish that day, one was 60 pounds and the other was 20 pounds. a couple days before i went out, they stole an 85 pounder. in the other picture, you can see the fish hut we were in out on the ice. later, these will have to be dug out and dragged off the ice (they're on big skis). the ice is about 15 feet thick right now, but it's not part of the permanent ice shelf. they'll land planes on the non-permanent stuff until early/mid December, when the ice starts getting squishy. hopefully, it will break out this year, but we'll see; everyone's watching the huge B-15 iceberg (as big as Delaware). it broke in half a month or two ago, so some people are worried that the broken half may drift over and block the ships from entering McMurdo sound. that would not be good since the ship is the resupply for the station for the entire next year. okay, time for bed, take care, all, and i hope to hear from you soon- thanks for all the emails!

Phil