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Day 14: Miss me with those venomous spines

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Today after breakfast, we took out all of the seven lionfish we (read: Scott, he didn’t let us wield the Trident of Glory) speared and let them defrost for a while. Scott cut off the spines after we weighed them, since there’s probably some rule against letting students handle venom. Then, we took some basic measurements such as the length with and without counting the tail, and the mouth gape height and width. After that, we sliced those babies open to determine their sex, reproductive status and the contents of their stomach. Andressa and I found a partially digested fish in ours. Yum.

Lionfish dissection

After we finished dissecting the lionfish, Scott cut them up into tiny pieces, marinated them in lemon juice to kill all the bacteria and other stuff. Then he added chopped tomatoes and onions, and we ate it just like that. I was a little hesitant to try it at first, but then I remembered that I ate a termite in the Chiquibul Forest while we were staying at Las Cuevas Research Station.

While half the class went out for a voluntary snorkel session after lunch, some of us engaged in other pastimes. Me, Kristen, Andressa, Claire and Sami (don’t ask her about it, she’ll deny it) dug a 6 in*12 in hole in the ground and filled it with about 25 hermit crabs. We watched them interact with each other (read: walk over) and finally decided to let them out of the hole after a while; the great Hermit Crab Exodus. No, this was not for science and yes we are all really college students.

In the afternoon, we took the boat to the resort located on the island of Southwest Caye. We just walked and talked around the island until sunset. Then we hopped back on the boat under perfect pastel skies, with both the sun and the full moon present at the same time. After dinner (there was chocolate cheesecake!) we all went out on to the dock and Scott led us all in group meditation under the stars. It was so peaceful and beautiful, and the perfect ending to such an amazing trip.

The sky at sunset from our last evening at Glover’s
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Why must good things come to an end? 

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  • Why must good things come to an end? 

    Today was a day of many lasts: snorkeling at Glover’s Atoll, sitting at the pier with the squad, and interacting with the lion fish. The post-Belize depression will be real but I will be sure to return to this lovely, peaceful, and unbelizeable place (credit: Sami).

    First things first: food was amazing today. After dissecting the lion fish we have gotten from the surrounding reefs, Chef Scott turned the white meat fish into a delicious bowl of ceviche, lime-marinated fresh fish mixed with diced onion and tomato.

    10/10 would eat again!

    Even the vegetarians helped finish the fish, an environmental friendly act due to the lionfish’s devastating effect on native fish species. Nonnative to this region, the piescivorous lion fish feed on smaller fish that are native to the region, at a disproportionally high rate. This causes up to 70% decrease in 

    native fish populations.

    A similar trend can be said of brown algae, Sargassum seaweed in particular, which has crowded out large populations of coral because of its ability to grow from dissembles parts of itself and its tolerance to hot water.

    At the Southwest Caye of Glover’s Atoll, we hung out at the resort and savored the beverages that the Caribbean had to offer, including Belizean pineapple Fanta which instead of using corn syrup as sweetener uses cane sugar. We noted the amount of conch shells on the island and thought about the regulations in place at this region for conch fishing. We hope they weren’t collected from restricted fishing zones, weren’t undersized, or caught during the mating season. 

    As our pilot research project has shown, marine protected areas support more corals and number of species, which can be worthy contributions to the coral reef ecosystem. Illegal harvesting of conch would instead be a detraction.

    In the waters around Southwest Caye, we observed the abundant sargassum seaweed. They are especially obvious because of they float free on the surface of water. Under water around the patch reefs near Middle Caye, I saw a lot of lobophora and White scroll algae. Most of these algae communities are near or inside coral communities, and share their habitat with many species of fish, spiny brittle star, and anemones. If one made a conclusion about the role of algae in the coral reef ecosystem from these observation, it may be that algae seems to be living in good relationships with its neighboring corals. However, comparing the algae and coral compositions of today to that of the last couple decades, the correlation between algae growth and coral decline can be alarming. We wonder if our grandchildren will see the corals that we got to see today.

    For about a week now we have been coordinating  a group mediation.

    Alas, tonight we meditated together as a class and some of us mentally prepared ourselves for the end of what feels like an era.

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Benthos

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Today was a day dedicated to the use of a systematic sampling method, utlilizing measuring tapes and a large physical grid. We answered questions like: What proportion of the patch reef contains some portion of live hard coral and what proportion of the seaweed benthos contains some portion of worm sand mounds?

To remind us of the importance of our work, and mostly to educate us on the overarching context of coral reefs, Ceyda Sidd ’19 explained that the percent cover of corals in Belizean waters is 13 – 15% and declining. Tomorrow we will be analyzing the data we collected today on percent cover of live hard corals to estimate the degree of decline in coral cover. One of the things that we have learned about working with corals is that it is in our best interest to not touch them. We saw fire corals, that upon contact can sting, and all corals are sensitive to human touch, such that it can destroy or stop the growth corals. The difficulty is real, though, as many of the patch corals exist in waters less than 3 ft deep, and some areas are too shallow to even swim across without touching some corals. Even conservation workers sometimes will cause harm to the things they wish to conserve; the act of quantifying and observing is sometimes inevitably an act of slight destruction. In snorkeling lingo, we all aim to be horizontal (floating) and not vertical (standing).

In the evening, we laid in hammocks with the company of incroaching lightning storms, which provided us with fantastic views and some rain. If we did end up stranded, which we are 80-95% likely to (someone jokingly said),I think none of us would be too distraught. The days here sucks out your energy, but in the best way possible: in the sun, under the water, above the benthos, and next to marine creatures.

This is from our last day in Belize, but is our best hammock group photo.  We’re serious about biology.
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Quadrats, not quadrants!

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Day 1 of Beach Days, 5/23.

My day began in the savanna cabanas of the tropical education center and it is about to end in a hammock on the Middle Caye of Glover’s Atoll. The view has changed drastically. Compared to the 100 meter visibility in the savanna, my view here at Glover’s is only cut short by the horizons. In this grand view, I see faraway lightning that may be associated with a brewing tropical storm. But because it is likely more than hundreds of miles away, I cannot hear the thunder.

This is our first day at the beach and it has mostly felt like vacation. We travelled to a marina in Belize City to catch a 3-hour boatride to Glover’s. On the way we saw the difference between deep and shallow water, and a myriad of other islands in the area. One constant object I observed was the availability of Sargassum on the ocean surface, some of which were cut up by the motors on our boat. Before I knew exactly what I was looking at, Scott and Jessica yelled out to me asking me to identify the green floating algae. With the amount of intensity and excitement they yelled at me, I understood it must have been something obvious: they are the Sargassum seaweed that has been infesting many coral reef areas, outcompeting many other species of corals and causing their decline. They are a group of brown algae that utilizes fouaxin to photosynthesize which gives them a slightly redder and browner color, although they also have the green pigments that come with chlorophyll. They are also the only species of red and brown algae that has air bladders, allowing them to trap air within the organism.

After arrival, we practiced snorkelling, a follow up to to first practice we had on campus in the recreational pools. This time we were surrounded by bone fish, nurse sharks, stingrays, corals, and jellyfish. The most difficult aspect of this practice was not touching things we should’t touch: corals, stingray and wildlife in general. Compared to the rainforest, where we were able to put our hands on almost anything that we were able to catch, the corals here are very fragile and many animals here are hidden and able to be aroused if touched, such as stingrays. With the construction of marine-use guadrats, we will be exploring and initiating contact with corals and perhaps a Echinoderm or two. The key is to not destroy the wildlife and no let the wildlife destroy us.

Stay tuned to find out how to best place quadrats on corals!

 

 

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You’ve been good to us, Belize!

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Last of the Belizean days-

Today’s theme is goodbye. This morning we said goodbyes to our beloved research station, our marine safety officers, our boat captains. This afternoon we said goodbyes to Belize and tonight we said goodbyes to EBIO 319. Surely. This won’t be the last of it.

A Smithsonian tropical field biologist we visited today has been conducting research on her island, Carrie Bow Caye, for 13 years, and will plans on returning year after year. This station has been doing some very cool research on the effects of increasing temperatures on corals. Specifically, researchers there have been testing the heat tolerance of a type of hybrid between two species of coral: the staghorn and the elkhorn corals. When hybridized, the coral are able to withstand high temperatures without bleaching. The scientists there perform tolerance tests in tanks of sea water heated up to different temperatures using different replicated hybrids and nonhybrids.

This is crucial today

, in a time when the global temperatures have been rising and upsetting the intricate, interconnected ecosystem of coral reefs. Without an intact ecosystem, food production, air quality, tourism, and economies will all suffer. A resilient coral may pave the way for future developments in resilient coral reefs.

Although coral reefs have been a widely known ecosystem fundamental to many aspects of our life, mangrove forests are a lesser known, but arguable equally important ecosystem. Mangrove forests are composed of communities of mangrove trees, trees that are able to extend their roots deep into the sea water and sprout leaves above water. While exploring one of these mangroves this morning, we saw first hand the types of life that is supported by these forests: upside-down jellyfish, crustose coralline algae, y-branch algae, blistered saucer-leaf algae, schools of fish, and starfish. A unique feature of the mangrove forest is that it filters marine waters so that surrounding organisms live in more-purified water. Combined with extra

shade provided by mangrove leaves and nutrients that come from decomposing leaves, this forest gives many organisms a habitat, some for a period of their life time, and others for their whole life time.

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At the airport, we all looked for souvenirs to signify our time in Belize, but truly we knew that the type of life we lived in Belize cannot be fully captured by  items. The closest thing that may come to represent our Belizean day are these blog entries. Everyday has been new, and each encounter has been different. Belize, you have been great to us, truly. Now. Until next time!

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Saying Goodbye to Our Second Home

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Day 15:  May 29th 2018, From Belize to Houston

Today we woke up, at an early breakfast, and said goodbye to our little paradise island.  It was so hard to say goodbye.  We boated out to Carrie Bow Cay which we toured the a small Smithsonian Research Station.  Researchers were currently there looking into the heat tolerance of Acropora cervivornis- Acropora palmata hybrids (Elkhorn and Staghorn coral hybrids).   I picked up my last hermit crab for the trip here, and let it grip and walk across my hands.  After we had toured, we found and invaded their hammocks as we took in our last day of beautiful views and hot sun.

After the tour, we set off to our last stop: the mangrove island of Twin Cay.  Here we snorkeled around the roots of the mangroves, observing sponges, starfish, Cassiopea jellyfish, and many small fish living amongst the roots.  Apparently, a manatee swam by our boat while we were snorkeling, but we didn’t end up seeing it.  Stinky and salty, we then boated back to the marina on the mainland where we changed and ate lunch. It was at this restaurant that we had our last meal together as a TFB family.

We then drove to the airport, went through security, explored the souvenir stores, and hopped on our plane to Houston.  We all stunk from the mangroves, so lets just say the people sitting next to us could tell that we hadn’t been in vacation.  Also, Claire’s dad was the pilot again, and he had traded flights so that we could fly us home! How fun! We got a nice shoutout which was pretty cool.

As for the actual flight, I spent the hours reflecting and thinking about our trip.  First of all, how did we do that much in just 2 weeks?  Also, how do you form a family like ours in just 2 weeks?  We learned so much.  We changed our definition of what it meant to be clean and privileged.  We also learned a lot about ourselves.  For example, I learned so much more about my research interests on this trip which should be a fun thing to explore this summer.  While I was thinking about all of this, I didn’t realize that I was blankly staring at the seat in front of me for about 3 hours. Really… I actually think that I scared the people around me.  Ah well, we’re all a little weirder after this trip, and the experience and people are worth any funky smell or awkward plane encounter.

Goodbye Belize! This won’t be the last I see of you!

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Adios, Belize!

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I woke up before 6 which I haven’t done since Las Cuevas to catch the early breakfast. I soaked up much of the island as I could before rushing to the boat. I unfortunately dropped my snorkeling fin right before getting on the boat, so I had to quickly change into my Lycra dive skin and quickly retrieve it. We then said our goodbyes to the Middle Caye and headed to the Smithsonean Research center. The island was so small that Scott said we could throw a hermit crab from one side of the island to the island. We got to listen to Nicole Fogarty from SouthEasten University talk about her research. She’s studying corals that are a hybrid between elk horn and stag horn corals. She said that they are relatively new in the evolutionary history, and that they are especially resilient, found in incredibly shallow waters that get up to 34 degrees. We got to see her experiment! She used small fish tanks, placing small baby hybrid corals in them and treating them to different temperatures. I’ve never seen any scientist’s experiment in progress, so I was captivated. We also talked about how excited Adrienne would be if she saw all of this (we miss you Adrienne!)

We then headed to the mangroves and swam in a single file along the tree roots. I was only able to see the outline of algae and sponges growing on the roots and the overall shape of some small nursery fish species.

After the ride back, we quickly hosed ourselves down once we got to the dock to have a restaurant meal. It was a weird feeling to sit down at an establishment without wearing my rainforest gear or bathing suit. After our meal we said our goodbyes to Rose and Javier.

We got to the airport and in unison we were surprised and shocked to feel the cold breeze of air conditioner. We hadn’t felt that in half a month and we were all so happy. Once we went through security we got our souvenirs and boarded the plane. Claire’s father was the pilot!!!! We were so happy for her and for us because we got another shoutout.

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Last full day :(

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Daily Blog 14

In the morning we worked on lion fish dissections. Unfortunately Sami and I were only able to dissect the smaller lion fish, so while dissecting the lion fish, we were unable to identify the sex of ability to spawn. The organs were too small to be identified. However, we were able to see that one of the lion fish we dissected had a small inside! The fish was only partially digested so we were able to identify some of the body parts. I learned in Jessica’s lecture on invasive species that the native fish do not recognize lion fish as predators, so it was sad to see the digested fish inside its stomach. I never actually got to see the lion fish while they were alive, so as I saw Scott use the tongs to carefully remove its venomous anal, pectoral, and dorsal spines, I was wondering how intimidating the lion fish would have looked with it’s spines. Although lion-fish in the Caribbean have caused awful effects as invasive species in removing native fish species, I think their warning coloration are visually captivating- the brown lines around their head and body are incredibly detailed, and their venomous spines are quite scary. One of my favourite parts of the dissecting has to be consuming the fish- Scott made a mean ceviche.

In the afternoon I went on an optional snorkel. A couple of us snorkeled to the nearby patch reef, moving from one place to another. I got to see a few squirrel fish exhibiting their usual behaviour- swimming away from me, hiding in rock crevices, and erecting their dorsal spines when I got too close. While swimming back, I got to see a sting ray! For some reason it was exhibiting really interesting behaviour- it was fluttering it’s body (non-propelling but undulating locomotion). It clearly wasn’t moving to swim, and it was just causing a disturbance in the sediments on the benthos. Perhaps it was hunting or practicing some other type of behaviour. The sediments the sting ray was raising from the benthos made it difficult to identify its shape and colour, so I can’t decide if it’s a southern stingray because I only got a glimpse of its yellow-beige coloured back.

To end the day perfectly, we got on a boat and headed to Marisol on Southwest Cage. We ordered our drinks and had them by the docks overlooking the shoreline of the island and I ate some conch ceviche. Conch ceviche with chips was probably my favourite thing I’ve eaten all trip. Later Rose taught us to dance in the Belizean way, and we had an amazing time trying and failing to imitate Rose. Once we got back on Middle Caye, we watched the beautiful sunset on the dock and lowered diving lights once it got completely dark.

our lionfish pre-dissection:

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Mad Mangrove Mosquitos

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Daily Blog 13

After waking up in the morning to thunder, rain and winds, we finished the lectures instead of going into the water. I was relieved to give the last lecture on mangroves, seagrass, and coral. Afterwards we went to the coral graveyard to pick up trash for our experiment, Talk Dirty To Me, where we wanted to figure out trash composition and amount on the windward and leeward side of Middle Caye. We also went to the mangroves where my face was butchered by mosquitos. I got a bite above my eyelid which later swelled up, so I had a little difficulty opening my right eye in the afternoon. I also got two bites on my forehead. Those mangrove mosquitos are absolutely awful.

We then finally went out to the reef at 2:05, only 5 minutes later than the time we were supposed to leave. Yay! I had an absolute blast swimming in the “aquarium”, the deeper reef off North-west Caye and a channel off Long Caye this afternoon. I was able to find so many different types of piscivorous fish, and I was so happy. I got to swim right next to a trumpet fish off Long Caye, along with a school of Yellow tail snappers. I also saw two sting rays, which was probably a yellow stingray and a southern stingray. I dived to look for lionfish in the crevices of the rocks and at the bottom of the corals, but I just ended up finding dozens of Squirrel fish. I think the squirrel fish I saw were Holocentrus. We also saw two nurse sharks. Unfortunately, one of the nurse sharks we saw had a fishing line and a plastic bottle around its fin, and we couldn’t remove it because we couldn’t risk being attacked.

When I got on the boat from the last snorkel, I heard Scott saying that he saw a black tipped reef shark and a spotted eagle ray. I WAS SO SAD AND MAD I DIDN’T GET TO SEE THEM. I love sharks, so I was really sad that I didn’t get to see the black tipped reef shark. The spotted eagle ray is also such an iconic fish, so I was also sad that I missed out. I hope I get to see it before I leave here!

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It Was A Good Day

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Daily Blog 12

For the first time we didn’t go out on the boat to snorkel because we worked on our poster this morning for our sea urchin and hard coral project. Since we all can’t work on the poster at once because space is limited, I fell asleep on the hammock. I took around 3 short naps, which was great. I worked on the title, writing “MP-Yay for Reefs” and later we presented the poster to Scott.

After lunch we completed some of our lecture topics, and we left to go to the shallow sea grass bed. It was really hot from the sun, so the mangrove soil was just mushy, warm and disgusting. However, after walking deeper into the seagrass bed and seeing all the conches, sea anemones, and sea snails, I got very excited. I finally swam past the sea grass where I saw a nurse shark! It was swimming away from me, but I still got to see it for a few seconds before it swam away.

I swam into the corals and I was so happy. The water had cooled down to a more comfortable temperature and I picked up a few crabs, a few brittle stars, and a sea urchin. I also got to swim with a school of fish, which reminded me of the opening scene of Lilo and Stich. I was lost track of time and where I was, and I felt so calm snorkeling among all the fish around me. I realized that I loved the ocean a lot, and I regretted not bringing my camera with me to document this moment. Even though I didn’t take any pictures, I still had a blast swimming through coral, admiring the biodiversity around me, and looking between corals for creatures- in fact, I saw a gigantic lobster. I only got to see its head, but it was about 60 cm long. While swimming back to Glover’s, we saw another nurse shark. It was way smaller at around 40 cm long and I only saw it swimming away from me. It swam underneath Veronica!

After dinner we were sitting by the docks looking at the sunset, and while walking to the end of the docks, Scott found a barracuda! It was around 70cm long, and it was slowly swimming under the docks and it didn’t seem like it was hunting. We also saw two southern sting rays swimming underneath us in the docks as well. I only got to see them when they were swimming away from us. Even though all the piscivorous fish I saw today were swimming away from me and only got to see them for a few seconds, I’m still glad I got to see them.

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