Today was a big day for Scyphozoa and Ctenophores, otherwise known as true jellyfish and comb jellies respectively. When we unloaded at one of our experiment locations, we had to quickly get back into the boat when we realized Moon Jellies (Aurelia aurita) were everywhere (they can deliver a painful sting), but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take a picture first.
There were also a lot of comb jellies (unknown species). These jellies look similar to jellyfish but are actually from a completely different phylum and use sticky cells called colloblasts to catch prey rather than stinging cells like jellyfish. This is why Amanda was able to safely hold one in her hand.
Eventually, our marine safety officer Herbie found a reef that wasn’t infested with jellyfish. While he was checking the area, he said he saw lots of squid and lionfish. I didn’t end up finding any squid myself, but I did get to watch Herbie spear one of the lionfish – they’re invasive to the Caribbean and eat a lot of important herbivorous fish populations.
Later, we went to the forereef, which was much deeper than the patch reefs inside the atoll. I got to see some living elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata), a nurse shark, several southern sting rays, and a very linear group of small squid.
Today, we spent the morning collecting data in two coral reef locations. Liz and I used a similar underwater language today to communicate. We were recording points with live coral or sediment, so cupping our hand into a “c” meant live coral and crossing our index and middle fingers meant sediment.
Exploring the reef after our data collection was incredible. I spotted many fire coral, mostly branching fire coral (Millepora alcicornis) but also some blade fire coral (Millipore complanate).
Later, we returned to the sea to scour an area of seagrass for critters that we could bring in to examine more closely – no hydrozoans or jellyfish were found, but we did gather some other amazing finds, including an octopus, two fire worms, a West Indian sea egg urchin, a sun anemone, and many more. My favorite are the conchs because they’re shells are beautiful, and they have strange little eyes on long eyestalks.
I am currently writing this blog with a small but distinct yellow dot in my vision. This is because I’ve been staring at the light in our cabin for a while, out of necessity of course.
About thirty minutes ago, Kelsey pointed at our light and asked what all the little bugs around it were (there were a lot). We suspected they were sandflies, so Anna, the bravest of us, stepped on a table and used Kaela’s notebook to swat as many as she could. It was confirmed that they were sandflies when Kaela’s notebook revealed about a hundred small smears of blood. I followed Anna’s swatting with lots of clapping around the light to attempt to get the sandflies that weren’t collected on the ceiling. What a day.
Earlier today, we did an experiment involving seagrass and algae competition. It soon became clear that any reef experiment requires strong communication between researchers, so Liz (my buddy) and I developed an underwater language in which the letter “a” in sign language meant algae and using both hands to form the written letter “s” meant seagrass.
No hydrozoa, schyphozoa, cubozoa, or ctenophores spotted today because much of our time in the water was spent collecting data in the seagrass. Hopefully, I’ll spot some tomorrow.
Today was a doozy. We had a three hour boat ride to Glover’s Reef this morning. It was a small motor boat speeding across three hours worth of ocean, so it was more like a three hour rollercoaster.
Once we made it to Glover’s, we immediately had a tour of the island, then lunch, and then our first snorkel. We couldn’t stay out for long because the current was strong, but Liz and I made it out to the patch reef, which was beautiful. I’m so excited to go out there again.
Closer to shore, we spotted many upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopeia xamachana) – a scyphozoan from my taxon ID card!!! These jellyfish are particularly interesting because they often rest on the ocean floor upside down with their tentacles in the air such that they look like harmless plants.
We went out again later to a different area of the reef. This area was much more shallow, which made it harder to navigate. This wasn’t ideal because there were many fire coral. I noticed both branching fire coral (Millipore alcicornis) and blade fire coral (Millipore complanate). These hydrozoans are actually not coral at all and can cause a nasty sting with their nematocysts.
Today, we went caving! I’m not talking just walking through a teeny cave with the convenience of manmade steps and installed lights. At points, we were swimming neck deep in water or trapped between two narrow cave walls not more than a few feet apart. We even had to slide down a small narrow waterfall going sideways to avoid collisions with rocks. The natural formations were incredible, but we also got to stand feet, or sometimes even inches, away from authentic Mayan artifacts and skeletal remains. I have no words for this experience except awesome, epic, and earth-shattering.
After caving, we made our way to the Tropical Education Center where we will be staying the night. Nearby, we got a night tour of the Belize Zoo. This meant we got to see many incredible animals that we wouldn’t otherwise see up close. Each of us got to feed a tapir and hold a boa constrictor, which are actually particularly docile snakes in case you didn’t know. My personal favorite was the puma. It was undoubtedly the most gorgeous animal I have ever seen. Its huge eyes and narrow tapering facial structure seemed unreal.
The stars here are gorgeous, and as I was looking up at them, I noticed a moving one. It was not a shooting star but a firefly (a beetle!). Unfortunately, the firefly was too far away for identification, and I don’t have any fireflies on my taxon ID card.
Today, we retrieved our camera traps and finished up some rainforest experiments. The morning hike to retrieve the traps was utterly exhausting, and everybody’s legs were sore afterward, but it was worth it for some amazing sightings. During the hike, we came upon a group of spider monkeys high up in the trees (likely the same group we have seen before in this area). They tried to intimidate us by shaking some branches but then became more curious and just stared at us. It was amazing to be in the presence of these animals that are so very human. And as Scott said the other day, we are very much apes ourselves.
To reach the last camera trap, we had to cross a fallen tree trunk full of aggressive ants that we knew all too well. On Thursday, all of us jumping onto the log to cross caused the ants to swarm the trunk such that on the way back, there was no way to cross without getting a handful of speedy biting ants. But this time, we all crossed quickly and efficiently enough to avoid this. The ticks were a little less avoidable unfortunately…
The beetle highlight from today was actually a species from my taxon ID card. I believe we spotted an Enema Endymion on the deck of the research station. This is a horned scarab beetle, and true to its name, it has a large horn at the front of its head.
Today was a very poorly lit day…we set up pitfall traps under the cover of the canopy, explored a cave, and went on a night hike!
The cave was amazing and surprisingly close to the field station. Archeologists believe that this cave was a special ceremonial pilgrimage site for the Maya because of how well its structure coincides with the Maya mythology. The Maya believed that there were 4 levels of the underworld you had to go down when you died, on the fifth one you’d fight demons, and then four levels back up to the living world. The Sun and his brother, Venus, were the first humans and undertook a journey through the levels of the underworld, emerging victoriously and the Sun becoming a jaguar. Interestingly enough, the cave’s structure has narrow points that mimic the passage between levels and has a weird curve that brings you back up to the beginning. It is believed that the Maya may have used this cave for ceremonies reenacting the Sun’s journey through the underworld. The Maya built a temple on top of the cave, the cave being the underworld and the temple reaching to the gods.
We survived the underworld!
After the cave we went to a place called “frog pond”. Unfortunately, there were neither frogs nor a pond there. It was very muddy, but since Belize is still in the dry season the pond hasn’t reformed yet. We were super disappointed, but then just as we were leaving Brendan spotted a tiny turtle! The highlight of my day was getting to hold this little guy…the only thing better would be being able to identify him (I’ve been searching through a field guide, going back and forth between two turtles, for hours already). After frog pond we explored the Maya site sitting above the cave, which is were we found a Greater Scaly Anole (Noropstropidonotus)on a tree.
I think it’s safe to say I was more excited about this picture than my turtle friend wasLook at it’s beautiful face though!
After dinner we went back to frog pond and the Maya site for a night hike…which is where the danger glitter comes in. During a night hike the best ways to spot things are by seeing movement and by seeing eyeshine. Eyeshine is when the light from your headlamp hits the eyes of a creature and reflects back into your eyes…lots of little spiders have eyes that look like little spots of glitter all over the ground shining back at you. At first it’s kind of nice because its sparkly, but then I remember it’s spiders (and other things, but overwhelmingly spiders) and it’s, well, less nice.
Also! On our night hike we saw a Central American Tree Snake (Imantodes gemmistratus) and completed our set of all the reptiles in Belize: a crocodile, some lizards, a turtle, and a snake (don’t worry though I’ll definitely keep looking for more reptiles).
Such a good little bean, Central American Tree Snake (Imantodes gemmistratus)
…I was most definitely drowsy for birding. But it was cool! Very foggy but we still managed to see lots of birds like a trogon with a square tail and some flycatchers. A great start to an incredibly long day of hiking and setting out camera traps.
We spent the morning hiking on trail along the 50 Hectare Plot set up outside Las Cuevas. There were hills and jagged rocks, making it very difficult even along the trail (there were some places we had to leave the trail because trees had fallen, other places we just climbed over the trees). It was on this trail though that we saw our reptiles of the day!
We saw an Anolis lizard that I couldn’t identify right away, but I took a picture of his dewlap so we can identify him later using field guides. We also saw what I’m pretty sure was a Middle American Ameiva (Ameiva festiva) because it was about the right size and had a distinct pattern (a dark stripe along the body that crosses the eye, darker zigzags on the back, and alternating dark and light vertical stripes on the side). At the end of the trail (or I guess the beginning because we went down and back) we saw a Green Anole (Anolisbiporcatus) eating a cricket!
Anole with his beautiful dewlap…which I asked nicely forMiddle American Ameiva (Ameiva festiva) trying it’s best to hide in the underbrushQuite possibly the best photo I have ever taken…Green Anole (Anolis biporcatus)
After lunch we hiked the Monkey Tail Trail. It was flatter and easier than the 50 Hectare Plot but resulted in some unfortunate encounters with arthropods. We had to jump over this huge log that was covered in very angry ants (and got very covered in ants in the process) and also had to avoid Acacia Ants protecting a fallen Bullthorn Acacia. We also, due to some very tall grass on the trail, left with ticks all over our bodies that we then spent an hour pulling off. Yay nature.
Now that I’m tired, sore, and sufficiently bitten for one day, time to sleep before another full day: birding and exploring the caves around Las Cuevas!
-Kelsey
UPDATE: The Anolis lizard I couldn’t identify right away was a Lesser Scaly Anole (Anolis uniformis), which I was able to tell from his red dewlap with small rings of white spots and blue basal spot (5/17/19)
Day two took us to Rio on Pools, Caracol, and Las Cuevas!
Rio on Pools was my favorite part of today. It’s a river that runs over the granite in the Mountain Pine Ridge and pools in calm sections with little waterfalls running between them. The water was nice and cool; some pools were deep enough to swim in, and some were shallower and super slippery from algae growing on rocks (but honestly it was kind of fun to slide around on them). Also! The slippery rocks combined with mini waterfalls made for a surprisingly fun natural waterslide.
My face at Rio on Pools BEFORE we slid down the natural waterslide…so just imagine how big that smile was
It was also at Rio on Pools where we saw most of our reptiles for the day! We saw two Striped Basilisks (Basiliscusbasiliscus) and one lizard that we think is a Teiid lizard. The basilisks were easier to identify because of the bright stripes and the distinctive way that basilisks run on their hind legs. We’ve narrowed the other lizard to a Teiid lizard because of the shape of its head/body, but the color pattern didn’t quite look like the Teiid lizard we’re familiar with for the area, so I’ll be consulting some field guides. Later in the day we also saw what’s likely a Morelet’s Crocodile (Crocodylus moreletii) while crossing over a river into the Chiquibul region.
One of the Striped Basilisks (Basiliscus basiliscus) before it ran away from us
After Rio on Pools we drove for a while, making our way out of the Mountain Pine Ridge and into the Chiquibul, and found our way to Caracol, a site of Mayan ruins. We learned a general timeline of the Mayan civilization and very detailed information about how the city was structured: an epicenter where the royal family lived, then roads out from there to plazas were wealthy elites lived with middle class structures around them, all extending 5 miles in radius. The plazas were set up with four structures around a clearing, usually three houses and a temple, and those structures were continually built upon to make the tiered pyramid type things we’re familiar with (not like building a super tall step pyramid at once). We even got to climb the tallest structure (the tallest in Belize) which was a palace associated with queen Batz Ek (“bright monkey lady”) and her son Lord Kan II.
We climbed this temple…and it’s taller than it looks. It’s one of the tallest structures in BelizeAt the top!
Learning about Mayan history was really cool, but my favorite part of visiting Caracol was learning about the Montezuma Oro Pendula birds. Montezuma for the emperor, Oro for the gold tail, and Pendula for the way they build their nests. They’re very loud birds and they build weird hanging nests really high up in trees. We saw a whole flock with there nests in a ceiba tree. The birds mate for life and once paired the male builds the nest for the female; if the female doesn’t like the nest she throws it to the ground and he tries again. Once he gets it right, he then has to build two or three more nests as decoys because the cow blackbird preys on their eggs.
We made it to Las Cuevas (where we’ll be staying for the rest of our rainforest adventure) in the early evening and got to enjoy the cool air that comes with a nice heavy rain. After the rain we saw a scarlet macaw up in a tree too! Then we learned about Trees, Birds, and the Soil Paradox from Amy, Keegan, and Cassia respectively.
Time for bed, don’t want to be drowsy for birding tomorrow!
The adventure has begun! Today was at the same time very eventful and not very eventful? I’m definitely tired, so it was a good day. It started around 4:30am so I could get to campus by 6am (or actually 5:20 because I was nervous about being late). We got all of our gear together and made it to the airport and suddenly it was around 8am, then we boarded around 9:30…then sat on the runway for about an hour because of tray table paperwork issues (??? That’s really what they said). We landed around 12:30pm Belize Time (which is about an hour behind Houston time right now because Belize doesn’t do daylight savings, weird) and then drove for a while, got lunch, drove for another hour, went to the grocery store, drove for another bit and ended up at the Crystal Paradise Ecolodge around 4:45pm. See it doesn’t seem like a lot, mostly travel.
Kaela and I waiting at the gate for the adventure to begin!
At Crystal Paradise there’s a trail (a really rocky, kind of steep trail I might add) that leads to a nice wide river…which we got to go swimming in! Across the river there was a rope swing and we took turns swinging off of it into the water. I think it’s a toss up for which part was the hardest: climbing up the bank of the river, getting the rope to the person, or actually being able to hold on long enough to get a good swing in. The swimming was the best part of the day, and we saw lots of animals while we were there/on the way there. We saw an agouti in the clearing by the Ecolodge at the head of the trail, some leaf-cutter ants carrying blue-purple flowers on the trail, and two tinamous (chicken-looking ground birds that are certainly not chickens) walking around while we were in the water.
We swam in this river!
Unfortunately we didn’t see any reptiles today, which is really surprising….except as I was typing that WE SAW 7 COMMON HOUSE GECKOS IN LIKE TWO MINUTES so just kidding we did see some reptiles today!!!!! They were climbing on poles and walls around the outdoor dining area at the Ecolodge (and it’s about 9:15pm). Kaela suggested that maybe since we got to the Ecolodge in the late afternoon it just wasn’t a good time to see them, but now they’re coming out at night.
Low quality pictures, high quality geckos! (p.s. look at how cute and small they are, this one is next to a lightbulb)
Hope tomorrow brings more reptiles and me not making the same face in every single photo.
