After breakfast this morning, we went crap hunting. We began to learn how to use a quadrant and transect tape on land. Quickly after completing our intro experiment, we leveled up and performed a similar experiment on the patch reef. During this experiment, I saw my first upside down jellyfish. There were hundreds of them in a sandy region near the grass bed. Occasionally, the jellyfish would float up like little aliens blooping around until they drifted back down to the bottom.

After lunch, we got to go on a boat ride to visit a patch reef near the back reef. Woo! We performed a very similar transect experiment over the patch reef. Then, we went urchin hunting! This was my favorite part of the trip so far. I felt like I was on a treasure hunt peering into the coral crevices. I also spotted a few light grey and blue brittle stars in my hunt for urchins.

Today, was another good day for herbivorous fish! For the first time, I spotted Pomacanthus arcuatus (the grey angle fish) in the deeper reef. I also identified Chrysiptera parasema (the yellow tail damsel fish) and Stegastes paritus, the Bi-color damsel fish. I continued to see Stegastes variables (the Cocoa damsel fish in the adult and juvenile phases), Chaetodon capistratus (the four eye butterfly fish), Scarus Croicensi (the striped parrot fish, initial and terminal phases), and finally Sparisoma Viridi (the stoplight parrot fish, juvenile and initial phase). I saw all of these fish swimming around clumps of coral. Each species was usually swimming in pairs except for Stegastes paritus and Chrysiptera parasema which were typically alone. For the majority of the time, the fish were picking bits of algae off the coral or out of the sand.

Mosquito bite count: 85! (this means I am winning right )