596 Marine Microbiology 



Plankters were fished individually from the cod ends of the nets 

 with sterile forceps and placed in 100 ml sterile sea water blanks. 

 On Cruises 3 and 4, the intact plankters in the water blanks were 

 thoroughly shaken and 1.0 ml water samples withdrawn for 

 bacteriological plating. The animals in the water blanks were 

 then aseptically crushed with a sterile wooden applicator stick, 

 the bottle shaken thoroughly, then sampled again for bacteria. 



Some myctophid fish were taken in net hauls and in the mid- 

 water trawl. Sterile instruments were used to dissect out the 

 viscera, which were placed in 100 ml sterile sea water blanks and 

 aseptically crushed with the sterile applicator sticks, and sampled. 

 Saury (CoJoJabis saira) were taken with dipnets under a night 

 light, and the viscera sampled similarly. 



Figure 1 shows the locations and data of the stations in the 

 pelagic waters off Southern California. To realize pelagic con- 

 ditions, as remote from terrestrial influence as practicable, effort 

 was made to sample in locations with at least 1000m water depth. 



Bacteriological manipulations were all done aboard ship, 

 insofar as was possible. To minimize the difficulties of making 

 pour plates aboard ship in a rolling sea, a tray was devised, 

 suspended from a single point overhead and counterweighted 

 below with a six-pound sash weight. This proved suitable under 

 sea conditions with winds of 15 knots and three-foot swells, but 

 developed too much oscillation for practical use with 22 knot 

 winds and eight-foot swells. 



Attempts were made to preserve bacteriological samples at 

 sea by rapid freezing, using dry ice, then returning the samples 

 to the laboratory for study. By plating aliquots at sea and similar 

 frozen aliquots in the laboratory ashore, it was found that less 

 than 1 per cent of the microorganisms survived freezing and 

 thawing. After two attempts, this procedure was abandoned. 



MEDIA 



Total Counts 



Aerobic heterotrophic microorganisms (or the "total" counts) 

 were enumerated on agar pour plates, using ZoBell's 2216e me- 

 dium: 



