Weather Buoy Adrift and a Strange Discovery!

Recently, TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale’s 96’ OSV Richard L. Becker was chartered to recover a NOAA weather buoy that was adrift hundreds of miles South of Jamaica. One requirement of the job was to recover what was left of the mooring system in order to document the cause of the failure. Once on scene, the crew hoisted the buoy on board using the vessel’s knuckle boom crane. Once the buoy was on board and secure, the mooring chain and line was recovered. The photo above is what the crew discovered at the bitter end of the line! A rare Lancet-Fish had its fangs entangled in the thick Nylon line and had likely lost its tail to a predator. Did the Lancet-Fish chew through the line and cause the failure or did the fish become interested in the bitter end of the line mistaking it for his next meal? We may never know!