A few days ago, we were all waiting for the next "elevator" to come back up to the ship (an elevator is a structure, about the size of an elevator, that scientists load equipment and materials on — they then lower it overboard, weighted down so it will sink to the sea floor — the JASON can move the elevator around on the ocean bottom as needed — they can load equipment back onto the elevator, remove some weights, and send the elevator rising back to the ocean’s surface).  This elevator coming up was a special one, a geomicrobe sled (see Sharon’s blog), and the water samples and data stored on the sled were an exciting unknown.  That’s not all that was unknown — the little guy in the picture above was hanging from the frame of the sled.    

                               

I don’t know what it is, but I like it!  I hustled inside the main lab and put it into a vial with sea water.  I then got out my handy dandy handheld microscope that hooks up to my laptop and took lots of pictures.  Even though I don’t know a name for this creature, I do know it’s beautiful :).