Tag Archives: lionfish ceviche

2022

Welcome to the jungle (we’ve got tapirs and jaguars) (15/06/22)

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I’m actually so sad to leave Glover’s Reef, I miss the hermit crabs, the iguanas and lizards, the giant blue crabs, the breeze, I even miss the sand everywhere and maybe even the mosquitos. We said our goodbye’s to Glover’s this morning, I can’t believe that was still today!

Then got back on the boat to Belize city. I slept through most of the boat ride, even the bumpier parts, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the first ride into Glover’s. I also got to eat some of the candy I bought back when we first got into Belize, some chile and chamoy lollipops, (I bought some more sweet and spicy candies when we went to the store again today). We had a long and relaxed lunch at Calypso, right on the dock where we got off of the boat. Then set off to the Belize Zoo and education center. I unfortunately did not see any of my taxon today. My rainforest taxon is lichen and fungi! Both pretty interesting but super hard to identify specific species or even classify in some cases!

Also yesterday on Glover’s we got to eat Lionfish ceviche! It was so good, I’ve never had ceviche until now and I think I’ve been missing out. I don’t know if it’ll taste as good without the fresh caught lionfish. We also had conch at dinner, it’s common to eat here in Belize but I’ve never had it before, and it was pretty good! I’m not a huge fan of seafood so I’m glad it was fried and had a relatively light flavor and a nice texture.

We also got a night tour of the zoo here after dinner. They only have animals native to Belize and all of them are rescues, either from people keeping wild animals as pets then dumping them when they get too big or aggressive, or were going to be killed for hunting livestock by farmers, or brought in as infants that wouldn’t have survived otherwise.

I think my favorite was the Tapir, his nose was just so long and funny and kept wiggling around!

Tomorrow we have another long travel day, but hopefully it’ll be just as much fun!

2022

We ate what??

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There was a lot to do today, since it was our last day!

We started out by going to a non-MPA to collect our last data set for our research question from three days ago. We used the transects and quadrats for the last time, which was very bitter sweet. The reef was very sparse, with very few live corals. There was a decent amount of brown algae, mainly the saucer leaf algae, covering the rubble. We saw some Caribbean reef squid though! There were six or seven of them, and they were all in a row in the seagrass bed that surrounded the reef. Doing what, I don’t know.

Afterwards, we went to a reef in the MPA, which they call “The Aquarium.” There were tons of fish, including parrot fish, angel fish, damsel fish, and others that I couldn’t identify. There was also a lot of brown algae! Yay! It was mainly saucer leaf algae and funnelweed, intermixed with some white scroll algae and y-branching algae. I saw a really cool blue variety of the y-branching algae, which I believe to have been dictyota menstrualis. It was right in the middle of a patch of saucer leaf algae.

dictyota humifusa with saucer leaf algae
squids in a row! (to the right)

After lunch, we compiled and analyzed our data, and presented it to the professors. You can read about it below! The poster doesn’t include in the discussion that there may have also been a difference in the non-MPA sited due to environmental factors that we couldn’t take into account, such as differences in the amount of fishing in each area.

We enjoyed some presentations from our fellow classmates, and then had a lovely dinner, which included friend conch! It was actually quite tasty. But it wasn’t until after dinner that the real fun began! We performed dissections on the three lionfish that were caught by Prof Solomon this week, and added our data to the list of lionfish data from the previous years of the BIOS 319 trip. Once we were done, Prof Solomon filleted the lionfish, and put them into a mixture of lime juice, tomato, and onions to create a ceviche. It turned out quite delicious! I would definitely recommend eating lionfish! Although I think I still smell like fish.

their names, from top to bottom: Main Course, Appetizer, and Snack

Anyways, today was the last day on the reef! It’s amazing that the time passed so quickly! Tomorrow we will be taking a boat back to the mainland, and starting the land portion of the class. See you all then!

-Elena

Prof Solomon fileting the lionfish
Performing the dissection on Main Course
Sophia and I

 

2022

Day 7: Ending our Last Day at Glover’s with Lionfish Ceviche

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We went on our last snorkeling trip to collect data from a non marine protected reef. There is saw a significant amount of bladed fire coral. I also saw a Christmas tree worm that appeared to have bored inside of fire coral which I thought was very interesting because I thought, since fire coral was an athecate hydroid colony and a hard coral, many marine organisms would avoid them due to their stinging capabilities, but they seem to support many life forms.

I also saw and photographed this Caribbean Reef Squid which was very cool! I saw some color changes on the squid when two were together so I wonder if they were communicating.

 Later we dissected three lionfish ( named snack, appetizer, and main course). Our group dissected snack the smallest of the three. After collecting data we made our lionfish into ceviche dish! Muy delicioso!

Although I am sad to leave Glover’s, I have grown and learned so much. I’m so excited for the rainforest and to stay at Las Cuevas!

~ Maegan

2022

D-7 Lion Fish Ceviche, Finally!

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Hi everyone!

Today marks our last full day at Glover’s and our last day of snorkeling!


Being our last day of Glover’s means that we have to begin packing and be ready to become immersed in a completely different ecosystem: the rainforest. Yet, I am getting ahead of myself, before we can start something new we have to finish our older projects. This was precisely the goal of today’s snorkel. We visited another non-marine protected area to collect our fourth data set. At first I was a bit skeptical about whether we would be able to collect the data with the weather conditions as it looked fairly windy. Yet, thankfully our skills have highly improved! After having gathered our data for the remaining site we all got to enjoy a fun snorkel.

It was during this second snorkel that I got to see a grey triggerfish. It was hiding behind a large patch of coral and it only came out after I swam by. It was a bit larger than I had anticipated, yet its approximate size fits between the size range I encountered during my earlier research on piscivorous fish of Belize. I am glad that I got to see another fish on my taxon ID card, and I hope to get to see the remainder on my next trip to Belize!

Our team also managed to catch yet another lion fish during our leisure snorkel. We see this piscivorous fish nearly at every patch we visit; after all, that seems pretty fitting of an invasive species! This time the lion fish was very small. After dinner we made use of all three fish that were captured during our time here. Yet before eating them we dissected them, gendered them, and removed any contents such as fat, liver and stomach that are commonly not eaten in ceviche.



Then Chef Solomon took over to make the ceviche. Here is a photo of the lion fish ceviche that was made!

2022

Reef-tastic last day at GRMS!

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Today was the last day at Glover’s Reef, and we made the most of it! Soon after breakfast, we all got into our snorkel gear to spend the morning finishing our coral/urchin quadrat and transect experiment. When I went into the snorkel shed, I noticed that my dive suit was gone. I asked and looked around, and it came to my attention that Caio (Dr. Correa’s ten-year-old son) wears the same size suit as me. When I found him, he was comfortably suited up in my “NeoSpo” suit. Instead of switching, I put his on, and we got this cute photo!

The last site of our experiment was a non-MPA reef, and Liliana and I zoomed through our data collection. We have gotten to be really efficient! I saw a lot of my taxa here! I spotted a num anemone and warty corallimorph, and I got pictures that clearly show the anemone’s inward mouth (first picture) and the corallimorph’s upturned mouth (second picture). 

I also so another red beaded anemone! This one was fully red/brown, and it had bumpy tentacles (the other one had smooth tentacles).

NEW TAXA SIGHTING: I saw a corkscrew anemone! This is a tiny anemone, and I git a photo! The one I came across was less than a centimeter in diameter with thin tentacles ringed with white, making them appear like corkscrews. I was so excited to find one of these attached to a piece of rubble!

Going back to the boat, we found seven Caribbean reef squids lined up in a row! They were such interesting creatures to see.

We then went on a fun snorkel (the last one), where I got to see so many beautiful fish! However, the water conditions were very rough, so it was a bit like being in a washing machine.

I did spot sponge zoanthids! These <1cm yellow/orange polyps were colonial across the surface of a green branching vase sponge! I was so excited to get this last sighting in 🙂

After lunch, we analyzed our coral/urchin data and made a poster! If you’ve noticed, all of our reef posters have a special heart <3

After dinner, we measured and dissected the three lionfish Dr. Solomon caught over the days at the reef. My group named our fish Appetizer. We then ate the lionfish in ceviche! I was glad to do my part in removing these invasive species but also putting their meat to good use, and I’m so happy that Liliana’s lionfish-eating dreams finally came true!

With my incredibly tanned hands, I will wave Glover’s Reef goodbye tomorrow morning. I’ve had an amazing time here and have learned so much, and I can’t wait to continue this journey in other ecosystems! Tomorrow’s destination = savanna!

– McKenna

2022

Dreams Coming True (14/06/22)

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In 6 minutes we’re going to make lionfish ceviche. I have always wanted to eat a lionfish since I started working at the New England Aquarium and learned about them as an invasive species, I knew I had to do my part to help. Unfortunately (? maybe fortunate) they’re not found in New England, and I haven’t been desperate enough to go to Florida just to eat a lionfish. We caught our first lionfish a few days ago and it was huge, since then we caught about 2 more. I have no idea if I’ll like lionfish ceviche, since I’ve never had ceviche before.

In other things we did today, we went to a non-protected reef to finish our coral data collection, and then another reef just for fun. Did not encounter many crustaceans today other than the normal hermit crab population here.

I can’t believe it’s our last night here, I don’t think I’m ready to go, there’s still so much to learn and explore here on the reef and the island. I think it’ll be hard to adjust to the new environment but hopefully it’ll be just as much fun!

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27/05/19 I’m not lion…I had fun.

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Today is our last full day of class since tomorrow is just traveling! We began the morning with a fun activity—cleaning up the island! We took trash bags out, geared up with long pants tucked in socks, shirts tucked in pants, jackets tucked in rubber gloves, and picked up garbage at four different sites around Middle Caye—the mangroves of death, the coral graveyard,  the Glover’s Reef dock, and the touch tank. I, along with Pierce and Keegan, picked up trash at the coral graveyard for 30 minutes. My hands pruned up with sweat, but the coverage was worth the mosquito protection.

 

Some interesting garbage found:

-lots of plastic bottles, lots of plastic bottle caps

-plastic utensils

-many sole-mate less sandals (ha!)

-Crocs

-baby doll leg

-stuffed animal

-LEGO

-toothbrushes

-rope

-2 hyperdermic needles

-a crab using a round bottle as a shell! Trash Crab!

Then, we had some coconut water, coconut meat, and lionfish ceviche—just doing our part to remove invasive species. The lionfish that I dissected was a 79.1g virgin male, and we found a whole, un-digested juvenile slippery dick wrasse in his stomach! The wrasse itself was at least 3 centimeters, maybe even 4. What a cool find!

Lionfish of genus Pterois beside the slippery dick wrasse (Halichoeres bivittatus) found in its stomach

We had our last lectures for the course on annelids and the history and culture of Belize given by our wonderful guides Herby and Javier—they were excellent and they will be missed so much!

Thank you Glover’s Reef Research Station for a fantastic week! Now, I’m prepared to head on home.