The CCGS Hudson left port in Halifax (Canada) on the 18th July for its 19th cruise of 2016. This cruise, a collaborative effort between the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), NEKTON and project SponGES will take us on a 4-week-long journey to explore a number of vulnerable, and highly understudied, deep-sea marine ecosystems of the North Atlantic.

The first stop was on the Scotian shelf where the SponGES team investigated a unique aggregation of Vazella pourtalesi, an hexactinellid sponge most commonly known to the fishermen as “Russian hats”, due to its vase shape and wooly consistency. First port call took place in the island of Bermuda, around which the 2^nd leg of the cruise will develop.

Discover more on leg number 1, and stay tuned with updates from the field, visiting the project SponGES’ Facebook page!