Monthly Archives: May 2017

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Hard Core Hard Coral Carol

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Day 6 was great! We went snorkeling on the back reef in the morning. We were collecting samples of organisms to bring back to the wet lab. Because I couldn’t take corals from the reef, I had a good time just swimming around and looking at the reef life.

When we brought our organisms back to the lab, we found a tiny octopus that hitched a ride in a shell! He was so cute, and we named him Squishy. We also found a fire worm and a mantis shrimp!

Squishy!

While everyone else was sorting through the organisms trying to identify their taxon group, Adrienne and I went back into the mangroves to collect more. We flipped over logs and emptied out big conch shells. We caught a few fish, some mollusks, and so many crabs.

My Diadema friend and me

After lunch, we did taxon and topic presentations and tried our best to quickly analyze and present our data from the trash pickup yesterday. We found that plastic waste is most abundant by number of pieces and weight.

We finished quickly, so we were able to squeeze in a quick snorkel before dinner. The wind was blowing pretty hard today, so there was a strong current. It was tough, but we were still all happy to be in the water!

To finish off the night, Ellie and I battled off some giant blue land crabs because we forgot our flashlights, and we are getting an early night. We’ll be up bright and early for snorkeling tomorrow morning!

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So Trashy

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Today was a very different day, but it was still exciting! We spent the morning on the back reef. We went through the mangroves of not-so-death and waded out to the patch reefs near the edge of the atoll. I saw a really cool fire coral that looked like a hybrid of the two species and a Caribbean Reef Squid!

Fire Coral
Caribbean Reef Squid

We spent the afternoon out of the water. Scott and Adrienne had us collect data related to marine debris on the island, so we were out in the mangroves picking up trash. We brought it back to the wet lab and had to sort and count all of it. I helped count plastics and we had 2460 pieces!

To help relieve our hot, mosquito-bitten souls, Scott and Adrienne had some fresh coconuts waiting for us after our work. We spent the evening eating coconut and playing sand volleyball. It was wonderful and relaxing even though I got smacked in the face and knocked down by a particularly powerful serve.

Once the sun went down, we went down to the dock, sunk two dive lights, and watched the wildlife come out to play in the light. We saw lots of little fish, a stingray, a shark, and a crocodile! It was a really magical experience.

2017

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red fish, Blue fish

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Today was one of the best snorkeling days. We started the day snorkeling on the back reef. We were doing a diversity study and were trying to collect as many species as possible. There were so many different organisms. Immediately, we stumbled across a baby nurse shark hiding in the seagrass. A few minutes later, a spotted eagle ray appeared and swam by us. I have decided that my favorite fish are a porcupine fish and a trunkfish. They both look like they shouldn’t exist and are defying nature. While searching for the different species on the reef, I saw some very large lobsters.

On the back reef, I also finally saw all of the herbivorous fish on my taxon sheet. I finally saw the juvenile Pomacanthus paru French Angelfish and a Juvenile Pomacanthus arcuatus (Grey angelfish). The final fish I saw was a Acanthurus chirurgus (Doctorfish).

At around 10:40, we got back with all of our organisms. While sorting through the all the material, I discovered a baby octopus sliding toward the drain. I quickly scooped him out and placed him in a bucket. When he entered the bucket, I saw him ink a cute little splotch of black ink. We also found some fire worms, brittle stars, and lots of crabs.

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For most of the afternoon, we did data analysis and presentations. But after we finished everything, we went for a quick snorkel before dinner. The water was really rough but it was really fun! We saw a really huge nurse shark! Today, was really fun!

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My Special Hermit Crab Trash Friend Died Today :’( (Day 6)

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Unfortunately, today the weather was still too windy to go to the reef crest or to do the night snorkel. Instead, we did specimen collection on the back reef and a quick dive on the patch reef before dinner.

In the specimen collection, we picked Udotea flabellum, Halimeda tuna, Halimeda monile, Halimeda incrassate, Dictyosphaeira cavernosa, Caulerpa urvilleana, Acetabularia calcyculus, Penicillus pyriformis, Valonia utricularis, and Rhipocephalus phoenix green algae.

Some brown, red, and green algae samples we collected.

We also brought back a Sun Anemone, a Mantis Shrimp, a Queen conch, circle marked brittle sea stars, a bearded fireworm, and a baby Caribbean reef octopus.

A Queen Conch

During our dives I spent a lot of time looking for fish. I saw more Blue Tangs, a Spotted Moray eel, a French Angelfish, Four-eyed Butterfly Fish, a Cat shark (?), a Grey Angelfish, and French Grunts.

The tail of a Spotted Moray Eel.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day on Glover’s Reef. It will be nice to be less salty than I’ve been, but I am really going to be sad leaving this amazing place, especially if we don’t get a chance to go to the reef crest before we go.

2017

Day 6 – Eat, Snorkel, Sleep, Repeat.

Hi friends,

The highlight of today was checking out the same patch reef we did on the first day. Except with stronger currents and more experience. And that worked out pretty well!

In the morning we checked out a backreef on another side of the island. It was very shallow compared to the one yesterday but it had a larger variety of organisms there which was awesome! Unfortunately I did not take my camera with me so I do not have photographs of them. I’m pretty sure I saw a Nassau grouper, and most of the organisms in my annelid taxon ID card. We then collected many of them to bring back for further examination in the wet lab. I picked up a queen conch (Lobatus gigas) on the way back to add to the collection.

Queen conch (Lobatus gigas) that I caught! You can see its eyes clearly in this picture.

We then split up the organisms we caught and presented on them. We caught several bearded fireworms (Hermodice carunculata) and I gotta say I spent too much time trying to provoke one of them and bristle its parapodia. It was interesting seeing the organisms that we have learned about and watching their behaviors. I witnessed a hermit crab actually changing its shell which was so cool!

Bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) that we caught.

After lunch, we returned the organisms back to the sea, had some presentations and did data analysis on the trash that we collected yesterday. We finished our report efficiently and as a reward, we got to go out to the patch reef which we examined on the first day. I was surprised by the strength of the current and it was challenging even swimming out. However after a while I managed to find inner peace and stopped struggling to swim. Instead, I decided to drift with the current to the patch reef which I eventually did. Being in the same area brought back memories of the first day and how I was struggling so badly with just staying afloat, and it felt really good to know that it took just a couple of days for me to be able to confidently snorkel and dive down to check out a patch reef. Reflecting on a deeper level, I realized that I have learned and grown so much these past few days. I’m able to identify so many new aquatic organisms now, feel more confident snorkeling, and understand so much more about field biology. Additionally, the whole group of us have been growing closer and sharing more stories with each other, and that’s always fun.

Looking forward to tomorrow,

Damien

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Anemone Heaven

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Another day in paradise. I tried waking up early to see the sunset, but a small cloud somehow managed to obscure the sun for most of it. I sat in the hammocks for a bit after, and then went to breakfast. Our first snorkel of the day took us out to a patch reef on the other side of Middle Caye, where we collected as many organisms as we could. This snorkel was special for me because I saw an innumerable amount of Caribbean Giant Anemones (Condylactis gigantea) and Sun Anemones (Stichodactyla helianthus), and even one Corkscrew Anemone (Bartholomea annulatus). I did not, however, see any zoanthids or corallimorphs today.

Condylactis gigantea, Giant Caribbean Anemone
Bartholomea annulatus, Corkscrew Anemone
Stichodactyla helianthus, Sun Anemone

On our snorkel, we collected lots of different organisms, including a tiny baby octopus that our group nicknamed Squishy. We enjoyed playing with it for a few hours as we identified all the organisms we collected. Unfortunately, we had also found that a tiny hermit crab we found living with a piece of trash yesterday, aptly named Trash Crab, had died today, so we plan to give it a funeral at sea tomorrow.

After sorting through our organisms and eating, we wrote up the data for our marine debris collection from yesterday, before taking a quick snorkel in the patch reef near the Middle Caye dock. I saw one Sun Anemone here, but no more of my taxon group. After snorkeling, we had a delicious dinner followed up with another night of free time. It is hard to believe we are leaving in two days, but I will just have to soak up tomorrow as much as possible.

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Worms and Trash (Day 5)

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Today we attempted to recreate the experiment that a former TFB performed on host preference in Christmas tree worms. Christmas tree worms are colorful little annelids that live on the surface of corals. In that way, this was easier than the urchin experiment because they were much easier to see.  I saw another Sailor’s eye algae today during the experiment. That was the only time we spent on the reef today, so I didn’t have time to look for other algae species much.

Two Christmas Tree Worms on top of a brain coral.

 

Besides algae, I also got to see the molt of a Caribbean Spiny Lobster today and a Donkey Dung sea cucumber on the back reef. These are funny because they look like a donkey’s dung (or at least what I assume the dung of a donkey might look like). Tonight when we shone a dive light into the water (it was too rough for us to do a night snorkel), we saw a crocodile and a stingray, too.

A Donkey Dung sea cucumber.

For the last part of today, we collected, sorted, and weighed marine debris. It was shocking, and depressing, to me how much debris there was on Middle Caye because we are so so remote. After 30 minutes of collecting, we didn’t even make a dent in the amount of litter there was within the mangroves, let alone the amount there is in the world, Belize, or even just the amount on Middle Caye.

A large piece of marine debris that was found during our Christmas Tree Worm experiment.

We couldn’t do the night snorkel or go out to the reef crest today, so fingers remain crossed.

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Best Birthday Ever!

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What a fabulous way to turn 19! We took an early morning dive on an unprotected patch reef and collected the same type of data as yesterday. Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for… *insert drumroll* … We found that the urchins are significantly bigger and more numerous in the protected reef area!

Me + the Diadema that stung me

I hope everyone appreciated that information because we spent about 3 hours trying to crunch those numbers. I think we’re all a little sleepy and dehydrated! Eventually we put a nice poster together to show all of our data to Scott and Adrienne, and we presented it to them on the dock.

The coral on the patch reef was incredibly beautiful today! I didn’t identify any new species, but I did see a fire coral that had grown over a sea fan. It was so elegant, so check out the picture below. There were also comb jellies floating around the reef. They don’t sting, but they startled me a few times when I swam into them!

Fire Coral growing around a sea fan

The best part of the day was definitely dinner. We were sitting around the table, discussing which character from Finding Nemo best represents Therese, when Scott and Adrienne brought a cake with candles to the table and sang happy birthday. They made a pineapple cake just for me! It was a very delicious and un-Belize-ably sweet surprise.

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Day 5: Human Impact (05/20/2017)

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This morning, my class and I explored one of Glover’s backreefs, noting densities of Christmas tree worms (Genus Spirobranchus).

A beige Christmas tree worm on a hard coral

While my own data collection was less than fruitful, the outing marked a major victory for me as a tropical field biologist. I encountered interesting echinoderms like a donkey dung sea cucumber (Holothuria Mexicana) in a sea grass bed and a West Indian sea egg (Tripneustes ventricosus) partially covered with algae. Both were neither in motion nor interacting with other animals. My most memorable sighting was a Caribbean reef squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea) swimming by.

I swam after the squid for a while, trying to get a better look. The animal was iridescent and translucent, a visual schema difficult to describe with an ordinary color pallet. There is something about the ocean that compels organisms to take on the most astounding colors and sheens; it’s simply breathtaking.

This same day, my classmate Isaac gave a presentation about the expansiveness and damaging ecological impact marine debris can have. My class also spent the afternoon collecting and measuring the debris accumulation from some of the shores of Middle Caye, which lies adjacent to a protected marine area. In my ordinary life back home, I contribute little to resolve this issue. Like most Americans, my status quo involves unbridled consumerism. An ordinary shopping trip involves buying excessively packaged goods from an energy-inefficient grocery store and taking them home in a disposable plastic bag. It is both interesting and unacceptable that such an irresponsible course of action is deemed ordinary in American society.

Despite how ingrained reckless consumerist behavior is, conservation and preservation of ocean creatures is non-negotiable.

Every living thing deserves a chance to not only survive but to thrive. Waste accumulation in our oceans, the direct result of human negligence, strips many living things of their chance for survival. For the long-term wellbeing of all living things, from reef squids to the human race, communities need to make thoughtful decisions regarding their own waste production and disposal.

Literally, the fate of the world depends on it.

2017

What a Trashy Day!

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After breakfast today, the water was very choppy so we could not go out on the reef. Instead, we did our presentations in the morning and learned about Mollusks, Annelids, and crustaceans. Next we went through the mangroves of death which were very un-deathy to get to a patch of back reef. There were a few mosquitos, but they were not huge swarms of biting insects. While on this reef, we were looking for Christmas tree worms and were trying to measure host preference. Unfortunately, there were very few Christmas tree worms on this reef. The current and waves were also very strong. While on the reef, I saw a Caribbean squid and lots of fire coral.

While on the reef, I continued to see lots herbivorous fish. The parrot fish on this reef were also bigger then on the little patch reef off the dock. I saw for the first time the intermediate stage of the Blue tang.

I continued to see Sparisoma Viridi (the stop light parrot fish), Chaetodon Striatus (Banded butterfly fish), Chrysiptera parasema (the yellow tail damsel fish), Stegastes paritus, the Bi-color damsel fish, and Scarus Croicensi (the striped parrot fish, initial and terminal phases). I see the parrot fish species and the Chaetodon capistratus (the four eye butterfly fish) the most. While this is very antidotal, I preserve these species to be more abundant.

After lunch, we did data analysis and of the Christmas tree worms. Although our data sample was small, we saw a slight preference for Christmas tree worms on brain corals. Next, we designed an experiment to analyze what types of marine debris are the most prevalent. We picked up trash from the beaches and mangrove areas. There were a surprising number of shoes and toothbrushes washed up on the beach. We found a little hermit crab within the trash that was using a bottle cap as a shell. It was very sad. Once we counted and weighed all the different types of trash, we had free time for the rest of the night.
Tonight, we say on the dock and put dive lights under the water. We saw a crocodile, a possible shark, and a few stingrays. It was really nice just to relax for the night and watch the stars.

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