A mere 26 days after re deploying Metis with a new cable and hydrophone, and hearing fantastic whale song, the hydrophone once again was preyed upon! Is is really hard to tell if it is a shark or a barracuda, non-the-less, we are not sure why this is happening. The sea surface temperature has been about the same (78.8°F). We have had a Wave Glider equipped the same way, in these same waters every winter season for years, and never experienced this. This time we have a little audio to go with it. While there is no Jaws music in the background, it does sound like a freight train hit the hydrophone.
P.S. Europa is still happily cruising along and about 400 NM away from Isla Clarión, Mexico. More on this in our next blog.
Hydrophone cable with several rake marks.
Take a look and listen at the audio and spectrogram below of the exact time when the hydrophone got bitten off!
Clear Humpback Whale Song followed by either a shark or a barracuda biting off the hydrophone