Monthly Archives: May 2016

2016, Uncategorized

Day 9: Turf to Surf!

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This morning, we went to the Belize Zoo to see everything in the daylight. In addition to the animals we saw last night, we also saw a jaguarundi and a harpy eagle. Fun fact: harpy eagles look exactly like hippogriffs from Harry Potter! We then drove to Belize City to catch a boat to Glover’s Reef.

The boat ride to Glover’s was incredible. As we sped across the ocean, the water flashed vivid colors of blue, teal, and green. At one point, the boat stopped and we couldn’t see land in any direction. The Glover’s research station is beautiful. We are living in cabins on stilts overlooking the ocean. It’s also interesting to look at the differences in resources between Las Cuevas and Glover’s. Las Cuevas had limited generator power, but plenty of water pumped from a nearby cave. Glover’s has 24-hour electricity, but rainwater is the only water source on the island for drinking and bathing.

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We went for a quick swim before dinner to test out our snorkel gear. I saw several species of red algae, but was only able to identify Laurencia papillosa without my id guide. We also saw a ray and lots of colorful fish. After dinner, we built our quadrats that we will use to do reef research tomorrow.

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Marine Buddies!

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Two dives today. The morning dive consisted of a reef scavenger hunt. Some of the best things I spotted included a damselfish garden, green algae, and SPONGES. Aplysina fulva (Scattered Pore Rope Sponge)

was one of the larger morphologies I spotted today. I found some Callyspongia vaginalis (Branching Vase Sponge)

as well, which was particularly interesting since I got the change to see it earlier this semester in photo data of my independent research from the Flower Garden Banks; this guy is everywhere! Orange Lumpy Encrusting Sponge (Scopalina ruetzleri) popped up a few times as well on the patch reef we explored; I love the intricate structure of this lump of sponge. I also may have spotted an Orange Icing Sponge (Mycale laevis), which has a morphology that allows it to seem to seep out of cracks in the coral reef.

Diving to the bottom of the reef and seeing corals and reef fish up close was truly exciting. The visual intrigue of the day kept my spirits high enough not to notice or care about my cramping feet and exhausted legs. My only wish is that I could hold my breath longer so that I could stay down and observe without coming up for air so soon.

After lunch we collected data on the abundance and density of two different green algae found here at Glover’s. It was good training for using the tools of marine biology, the transect and the quadrat. Like most things, using these tools was easier said than done. Holding onto the cumbersome square and keeping the end of the transect tape from blowing about in the current were laborious chores, but hey, we got some data so whoopee.

I’ve enjoyed the down time here in our tropical paradise, for instance slamming coconuts against coral skeletons washed ashore and drinking the sweet water inside. Good times. Most of all I’ve enjoyed playing with the plethora of hermit crabs that call Middle Caye their home. I have named on Fred, but since they all look alike, I lost my ten-legged friend very quickly. But not before serenading him with a heartfelt ode and reassuring him I would never ever put him in a seafood stew. Buddies don’t do that to buddies.

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Day 10: Aneme- Anemo- ANEMONE.

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Today was our second time out to patch reefs. This morning we had a bit of time to snorkel around looking for certain things. The list we were given helped direct my attention to bits of the reef I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise I don’t think. I think I saw a parrot fish that was red with white spots, but I was having a hard time getting a look at its mouth since it was very close to a coral. I also saw my first anemone. I saw a Condylactis gigantea(Giant carribean anemone) and a Stichodactyla helianthus(sun anemone). Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery before I saw them or I would share a picture.  I also saw plenty of coral that I’m still getting the hang of identifying.

In the afternoon we went back into the water, but this time stuck to the sea grass patch. We were surveying squares for the presence of two different macroalgae. Right before getting in we saw a baby nurse shark (don’t worry it’s not a threat). My snorkel buddy and I happened to have a section of the sea grass that had fairly dense populations of one of the algae and it took a while to repeatedly dive down to count. After we headed in, we learned that most of the other groups hardly saw any hadn’t had to do much counting. Among the sea grass we had also seen two spotted rays, another sun anemone, and I think I might have seen a puffer fish.

Lastly, we went to a different part of the island to look at fossilized coral skeletons. I feel significantly better about recognizing different corals on the reef tomorrow, but I’m still a bit nervous. I guess I’ll find out if I really can.

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Oh and there was a gorgeous post-card-worthy sunset on the island that already looks like a postcard.

2016

(Nakian) May 26: Brown x Algae x Butchering

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Today was a good day for brown algae. I finally found some of the brown algae I expected and were mostly in the reef. There were many of Padina, Dictyota and Turbinaria among the coral. Michael happened to find a Lobophora as well. One of the reef was full of them that I think there was a big competition between algae and coral. I am hoping to see more of the algae and I expect more to be found in the peripheral reef we will be visiting tomorrow. It was interesting there weren’t so many sargasso since I heard it was pretty dominant. Maybe they are more common in open ocean. I thin they are cool so I hope to see them. Also I think I saw an Oyster Thief but am not sure because it wasn’t hollow but was conglomerates of filamentous algae looking things.
Today the sandfly craziness was better because I am used to the itchness. Saw a fisherman butchering a meter long barracuda. I hope not to encounter one while diving.

2016

(Nakian) May 25: Sailing x sandflies x Reef

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Today left Belize City after a great lunch and sailed for Glover’s Reef. The Caribbean was a mosaic of blues created by the different geological and biological factors. The emerald sea near the shore had patches of dark blue. Distant greens above the horizon were mangrove forests as we approached. As we changed direction and entered the open sea, the juxtaposition of dark blue and emerald was dominated by the deep indigo of rough waves. After sailing for almost 3 hours we finally reached the emerald of the Glover’s Reef.
Never having been to an atoll, the Glover’s Reef gave me a great impression. An emerald paradise of coral reef was guarded like a fortress against the deep blue. When we finally dived into the water, hundreds of small fish greeted us above the sea grass. Then we finally reached the coral reef, it was as if I am looking at a bonsai rainforest. Maybe I haven’t look closely enough because of the confusion of being underwater, I could not find brown algae. I thought these algae would be obviously large enough or dominate the area or something. But apparently, other kinds organisms like corals and other algae and even plants seemed to be in constant competition. Hopefully I can find it tomorrow when I am more used to the environment.
But the sandflies tho. I though ticks were bad. But these things are sneaky with straight punch into my skin leaving a spots that won’t go way. At least killing ticks have some pleasure in it when the blood in it pops. Sandflies, smaller, sneakier, but more painful. My next 6 days will be a war against these bugs

2016

Sea-rious Business

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On the boat
On the boat

Today we traveled to the reef, which was very exciting for me. It has been a long time since I went to an ocean, and it was so nice to remember how much they make me happy. I feel so calm tonight looking out at the moon rising above the waves through the palms.

We also got a chance to do a short hour of snorkeling before dinner tonight. I saw a few Queen Conch, but other than that not too many molluscs. I was spending too much time trying to figure out my snorkel to spend a lot of time looking for them, so tomorrow hopefully I will find more.

Queen conch in the sand
Queen conch in the sand

On the island where we’re staying (Middle Caye) we have seen about a hundred hermit crabs and a whole bunch of larger crabs as well. While we were snorkeling we also found a blue tang surgeon fish and some barracudas.

I was able to identify some of the stony corals still even though coral reef biology was a couple years ago by now. I definitely saw some Porites Astriodes and Sudodiploria Strigosa.

It’s going to be an incredible week here at Glovers. I’m very excited.

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Boat Ride + First Snorkel at Glover’s Reef

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Hi everyone! We finally made it to Glover’s Reef! This morning we woke up and got another chance to visit the zoo. We visited Charlie the Scarlet Macaw (who said hello to me!) and also saw some other animals that we didn’t get a chance to see last night such as a howler monkey. It was cool to see so many extraordinary animals that we had been so close to in the rainforest in such close proximity again.

Charlie the scarlet macaw from the Belize Zoo
Charlie the scarlet macaw from the Belize Zoo

After our quick zoo stop, we took a bus to the Princess Marina, had a quick lunch at Calypso restaurant at the pier, and then loaded a boat to head to Glover’s Reef. The scenery along the boat ride was absolutely glorious; the water color varied from beautiful shades of turquoise to cerulean and the sea breeze was really refreshing after so many days in the rainforest. Soon after we got here, we all headed to the water for our first snorkel.

Princess Marina
Princess Marina

Being in the water here was exciting but also a little bit of a struggle for me because I had some trouble with my snorkel and getting it to attach to the correct side, so I was not able to explore quite as long today. On that note, my taxa here is echinoderms (sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and brittle stars), and I know where they’re supposed to be on the reef so expect to read more about them in the coming days as I get a chance to search the crevices in the coral and sand in more detail! I’ll be sure to share my sightings here. For now, I’ll share a couple fun facts about echinoderms instead: sea stars can push their stomachs outside of their body and externally digest their prey and  echinoderms can regenerate parts of their body if necessary. Isn’t that cool? 🙂

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Wonderful view of the reef from our room
2016

PARADISE Paradise paradise paradise

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The day began after restful sleep at the zoo lodge. We returned to see some diurnal animals at the Belize zoo and I picked up a nice T-shirt and some sunglasses to prepare myself for the shift to reef study.

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It turns out the shades were a great investment based on the bright and unrelenting sun we faced on the boat ride over to Glover’s Reef Atoll. Bumpy and long, like a Convoluted Barrel Sponge, the ride to Glover’s gave us some downtime to become delirious and make awful puns (a hallmark of my 319 experience).

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Once we got to the atoll we were briefed on the conservation and safety measures we would be taking while staying here. Then we were introduced to Clivus, our trusty compost toilet.

We did get to do a bit of snorkeling on a patch reef not too far from shore where I found a few examples of sea sponges (phylum: porifera). I saw one that looked like a natural bath sponge and another with a branching morphology and conspicuous oscula (oscules?) lining the dorsal side of its branches (it basically looked like an underwater flute-tree).

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As a brief introduction to these filter feeders I’ll say that water is drawn in through small pores along the body of the sponge and expelled, clean and microbe free, from larger more visible pores called oscules. You can often characterize a sponge species by the size and placement of these larger holes.

I can already tell this part of the trip will be saltier, sunnier, but ultimately a little more like paradise. There are coconut palms ten feet from my room. I was playing with hermit crabs as I arrived. The sunset here is like a painting. Me like Glover’s.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

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Day 9: Identity Crisis!

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At this point, I’m having an identity crisis of sorts. Even though I’ve officially left the forest, I still feel compelled to find and analyze any cockroach that I find. While doing the ocean portion of the course, I am to look out for ctenophores and other jellyfishes, which I will explain more as the days keep going.

Today, we did a first dive from the boat dock near the Middle Caye (the island we will be residing in). During the dive, I managed to find the notorious upside down jellyfishes (Cassiopea sp.) resting on the bottom of the sand.  Their notoriety comes from their abundant numbers and annoying stings. As their name implies, these jellyfish prefer to orient themselves with tentacles facing up and bell facing down. This orientation is due to the photosynthetic symbionts that rest within the tentacles and require sunlight. The jellyfish protects them by surrounding with a mat of stinging tentacles and is fed the photosynthetic products from its buddies.

Hopefully, we will be able to protect ourselves.

Cassiopea xamachana. A young jellyfish and a larger one next to it.
Cassiopea xamachana. A young jellyfish and a larger one next to it.
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Glovers Atoll

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Today we left land and moved out to sea. I enjoyed our long boat ride out to Glover’s Atoll, its been a while since I’ve been on the ocean and the waves felt great. It’s a beautiful place out here. After orientation we hopped in the water for a quick snorkel on the patch reef. I ended up having a few technical difficulties towards the end that hopefully practice will resolve.

I am already having more luck with this taxonomic group. I saw two orange Pomatostegus stellatus (star horseshoe worms) growing on a coral, and apparently Grace found Spirobranchus giganteus (christmas tree worms) as well. Besides annelids I saw staghorn coral, a queen conch, a ray, and a ton of fish, soft coral and sponges I couldn’t specifically identify.

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Sophia Streeter

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