Today we made our way back to Houston- not too quickly though, of course. Who would want to leave the beach? I am however okay with taking a break from the sand flies.
This morning we packed the boat up again and took off. First stop was Carrie Bow Caye, home of a Smithsonian institute research station. We got to take a tour of the facilities on the very small island. In fact the island is shrinking due to rises in sea level and is now about the size of half an acre. It was a functional lab in the field biology sense: a wet lab, dry lab, library, and boats for use. I’d definitely want the chance to research here.
The next stop was at Twin Caye, an island split in two and covered with mangrove ecosystem. We tromped through the mangroves and then took to the water to snorkel one last time. I did not see any anemones, zoanthids or corallimorphs, but in fact I didn’t see much at all. Being in the mangroves, there was a lot of loose sediment that made the water fairy murky. I did see upside down jelly fish(Cassiopea…), a cushion sea star, and a lot of juvenile fish.
Another short boat ride and we were back in Belize City to eat lunch and head to the airport. Officially over when we reached Rice University, EBIO 319 is complete.
Even on our way to the airport we managed to squeeze in one last snorkel. This time we went to the mangroves and swam around their roots, which many organisms use as a substrate to grow on. Fish also use mangroves as a nursery where they are fairly sheltered from larger predators. Upside-down jellies bobbed along the bottom of the sea bed and fire sponge glowed orange through the murky water.
I finally saw the magnificent feather duster, recognizable by its larger size and double crown of radioles. Their tubes were attached to the mangrove roots, among the encrusting algae, sponges and hydroids. They were various shades of brown and white and tucked their filter-feeding radioles into their tubes if you touched them. Unlike the other feather dusters I’ve seen, they didn’t tuck their radioles in all the way, and the tips of the crown poked out of the tube. I am guessing this is because they are too big to fit all the way in.
Time has never passed so quickly as it did on this trip. We were so busy and there was so much to do and see that the two weeks were over before I knew it. I was never bored for a second. Being back in Houston is so strange and claustrophobic. I already miss the fresh air and pristine nature. I’d take that over clean laundry any day!
This morning we spent an hour on the back reef on the northeast side of Middle Caye. We had visited the area on May 28th, but this time we went to collect all of the biodiversity of the zone that we could. Most of what we were able to collect was algae because it is usually stationary and safe to touch. We also collected some mollusks and crustaceans. A lot of the hermit crabs that we found in the water were occupying old conch shells, which shows how large they were. It was interesting to compare how the live conchs and hermit crabs in conch shells looked when they were retracted. Our jellyfish expert, Sam, found dead box jellyfish floating near the shoreline and collected them even though their tentacles are very dangerous to touch.
We collected a lot of the species of algae that I had already seen last time we visited the back reef, but it was good to consolidate the data. Overall we collected samples of Halimeda incrassata, H. opuntia, Dictyosphaeria cavernosa, Penicillus capitatus, Rhipocephalus phoenix, Udotea conglutinata, U. flabellum, Caulerpa cuppressoides, C. racemosa, and possibly Chaetomorpha linum. It was difficult to tell the difference between the Penicillus species because some seemed to have a slightly flat top or a slightly bigger top than the descriptions of P. capitatus that I was able to find in the literature. I am not sure that the filamentous algae that we collected were C. linum. They seemed similar to the description, but I couldn’t completely rule out other species.
Halimeda spp.Dictyosphaeria cavernosaFirst five: Penicillus spp.; last two: Rhipocephalus phoenixCaulerpa cuppressoides (top) and C. racemosa (bottom)
In the afternoon we dissected lionfish to record their dimensions and what they were eating. We had caught 4 lionfish, and the individual that my group dissected had puncture wounds in its face from the spear. The most difficult part of the dissection was attempting to sex the fish. Ultimately my group was not able to determine where the gonads were, so we couldn’t tell whether it was a female or a male. We opened up the lionfish’s stomach and found a much smaller fish that was barely digested. The lionfish was 19cm from mouth to the tip of the tail, and the ingested fish was 2cm long. Lionfish stomachs can expand to 30 times their empty size, which made the stomach of our individual comparatively empty.
Adrienne cutting the poisonous fins off of a lionfish
By this time tomorrow we will all be back in the United States. Tomorrow promises to be a crazy day, and I’m looking forward to end the trip with the same spirit that we have had throughout our time here.
Our last day here on the reef has been a little sad for me. I will absolutely be coming back here at some point in my life, but leaving tomorrow is gonna be difficult for me.
We started the day by wandering around in the back reef and collecting biodiversity in a bucket so we could identify it. I identified a species of chiton (the fuzzy chiton) and some genus of snails (cerithium and trochus snails). We also found a donkey dung sea cucumber, some box jellies, some huge hermit crabs that were using queen conch shells, and a few mantis shrimp.
As we were collecting stuff I got stung by something on my elbow and it was hurting for the next couple hours. Eventually it calmed down, but I’m still not sure what stung me. Possibly some kind of jelly.
In the afternoon we dissected lion fish to look at their size and the contents of their stomachs. Then we made lion fish ceviche which we will be eating any minute now.
After the lion fish dissection, we boated over to south-west caye and had a few drinks and watched the sun set. This place is so beautiful that it’s impossible to describe in pictures or words. I sat and watched the stars for awhile on the dock and thought about how amazing it would be to see this many stars every night. I’m gonna miss this when I got back to Houston. Despite the stings, bug bites, rashes, and layers of dirt and salt, I would love to spend huge quantities of my life here.
This morning we got to go back out to the back reef again. Except this time we came armed with ziplock bags and buckets to collect samples of our taxonomic groups. It was a pretty exciting time for me when we took our catches back to the wet lab to examine and ID because there were a lot of crustaceans. There were about 5 Mantis Shrimps, some were green and some were brown. One was almost 3 inches long. There were also a bunch of different crabs. There were loads of Reef Hermit Crabs, a couple of Stone Crabs and maybe a Mangrove Crab. We found two Blue Crabs, they didn’t like each very much. We couldn’t put them together in the same trough.
In the afternoon we got to dissect the 4 Lionfish that Scott caught. For a fish that is supposed to be able to eat a lot it didn’t have a lot of guts. Its organs were a lot smaller than I expected. We only found a tiny little fish under 2cm in its stomach. Everyone else’s fish stomaches only had mush in it. After we gutted the fish, the guys from the fisheries department took the meat to make ceviche for us. Still waiting to eat it.
Late in the afternoon, we took a boat to Southwest Caye. As the sun was setting and I was sipping pina colada, it dawned on me that today was the last full day we have. Time is, as always, paradoxically slow and fast. The past two weeks seemed to have disappeared. I’m not ready to go back to the real world. I’m not ready to leave this paradise. This experience is more than I could have asked for and more than I ever expected. So yes my vacation is going good, and yes you’ll be getting postcards from Randy.
Tonight is the last night in Belize. We went to the patch reef nearby our dorm and collected specimens in the morning. We found bunch of little crabs, a level 45 hermit crab (the biggest I have seen), bunch of algae, and played with conchs that tried to swath our hand away with their extended body. It was amazing to see so many different animals in such a shallow water. After that we returned to our coral colony project and concluded that colony coverage decreased.
In the afternoon we dissected lionfish, recording their weight, body length, gape size, body fat volume, and stomach content. Since we didn’t know the previous data we couldn’t make any conclusions but it was fun cutting up an invasive species. I am only waiting to taste the ceviche I heard they were making with the fish we dissected.
I collected the same 5 kinds of brown algae that I have seen while I was staying here: Sargassum, Dictyota, Turbinaria, Padina, and Lobophora. I couldn’t find any other and I concluded that these are the most common species in the region.
Before dinner we sailed to Southwest Caye, a resort island. We sat in a bar and drank pina colada by the dock under the sunset. After a amazing dinner, and watching the slideshow of our photo we have taken during this trip concluded our course very nicely.
Our last day at Glovers has been bittersweet. We wrapped things up by collecting specimens from the backreef and bringing them into the wet lab for sorting and identification. While I did see several split crown feather dusters they are not the kind of thing you can remove from the reef without killing the organism because of how they attach to the substrate. However, we collected several fish, blue crabs, tiny brown crabs, all kinds of green, brown, and red algae, mantis shrimp, jellies, clam shells, and a huge hermit crab.
Yesterday we collected data on specific coral colonies for a long term study. We measured live coral coverage, and today we looked at the data for the same corals taken last year to compare the results. We found that coverage seemed to have decreased at the sites, but it was hard to tell because of discrepancies in data collection. Lastly, we dissected lionfish that were caught throughout the week to look at size, sex and stomach contents to get an idea of what the population of this invasive species looks like in Glovers atoll.
I wish I had more time on the reef and in this course. Middle caye and the surrounding reefs are beautiful and I feel like I could stay here for a long time. I may be salty, all my laundry is filthy, and I definitely have a whole new threshold for dirty, but I’m still happy as a clam.
The day is done. I think that the entire group is in disbelief. It’s hard to imagine not living 24/7 with these thirteen people always around. I, really all of us, have become accustomed to our daily routine of rising early and exploring the different natural features of Belize. If it were up to me, we would explore the other major ecosystems of this country (the Maya Mountains and the savannah). I would also be interested to see how Belize City differs from Houston, Philadelphia, or other international cities.
Anyway, today was mostly spent quantifying biodiversity on the back reef near to the research station. This means that we spent the morning wading around the shallow area searching for any organism we could find. I was particularly proud of myself for finding a cute, small snail that crawled all of the way up my dive skin. I was less excited about the dead fish that Randy stuffed in my dive skin. We found a least five different types of green algae, a sea cucumber, a sponge, lots of brown algae, red algae, a French grunt, a yellowtail damselfish, a goby, a couple molluscs, and a couple of jellies.
On another note, I did not see that many examples of my taxonomic group. On the brief times that the water was deep enough for us to snorkel, I saw (shocker) a lot of sea fans (Gorgonia ventalina). In the end, I think that I have seen all of the soft coral on the Glover’s field guide. I wonder what the relatively high abundance of soft corals means for the hard corals, in terms of reef accretion. Anyway, this trip has opened up numerous future research topics. I hope to learn more about them in the upcoming semester at Rice.
So today we went to the back reef for a very brief period in order to essentially say goodbye. I felt very sad swimming through the shallow patchy reef, realizing I won’t be on a reef until next year. I said goodbye to the stony corals. But as a last gift, I got to see four amazingly large queen triggerfish, and then I was content.
We traipsed through the shallow flats for a spell to find some interesting critters and organisms from our taxon assignments. Some of my favorite critters were the large hermit crab, the mantis shrimp, blue crab, and sargassum algae.
Then came the lion fish dissection. We caught a total of four lionfish. We weighed the lionfish, measured total length and standard length, had the spines cut off by Adrienne, measured the gape width and height, and then dissected the fish. Specifically, we wanted to look at stomach contents, weigh the fatty parts of the fish, and then sex the fish. My group had trouble finding the gonads, so we couldn’t sex the fish.
After that, we went to Southwester Caye for a fun excursion and then packed up and headed to bed.
The last night of our trip came too quickly. This atoll we came to so many days ago still doesn’t feel like a real place to me. It’s like this has all been a never-ending movie. Despite that it will end tomorrow. We will pull into Rice tomorrow night and it will all be over.
Enough sentimentality though, let me recap the day. Morning was spent returning to a very special spot on the back reef to collect specimens for a final display of marine organisms. Algae, crustaceans, and even box jellies were all represented in this summary of our taxa. I found a sponge in this area of the reef but was unable to identify it. It was soft, green, and encrusting but it didn’t look like any of the sponges from the Glover’s ID guide.
After the last of the lecture topics, we analyzed the data collected yesterday on percent cover of live coral on colonies measured last year in order to basically start a longitudinal study. This would be a great opportunity to look at coral colonies over the years and how they change in shape and size.
The afternoon was spent dissecting lionfish we had caught this week at the various sites we visited on the reef. Sam and I had the littlest guy, which was too immature to determine its sex. But we did open up its stomach and reveal a gross fish mush. I don’t know. It was gross but in the end we got to use the filets to make ceviche so it was all worth it.
I’m trying to make the most of these last dozen or so hours here at Glover’s. I think exploring the island a little more is in order. Sleep will certainly not come easily tonight despite the work we’ve been putting in all day. I can’t let this experience slip by too quickly.
