Today was our last day on the reef, and we made sure to pack it very full! This morning we took the boat out, on relatively choppy water, to two patch reefs. On our first patch reef I saw a giant trigger fish! It was around 12-14” long and oval shaped. I also found a ton of sea urchins in a pile of empty conch shells (these had probably been tossed back into the water by fishermen).

On the second patch reef, I saw lots of soft corals interspersed with large sponges. In some areas there were common sea fans along side these sponges, and in others there were more branching soft corals (probably slit-pore sea rods or porous sea rods). This was interesting, as in other areas I saw the sponges more alongside hard corals and less bunched in with soft corals. This makes me wonder if sponges and soft corals compete a lot for space, or if one group outcompetes the other most of the time! (Seeing as there are so many soft corals, I’m guessing they usually win)

After dinner, we were finally able to dissect the invasive lionfish that Scott speared this week, and turn them into ceviche! My group dissected the smallest lionfish, which was pretty difficult as all we had was a large pair of blunt scissors and a set of forceps. However, we were able to identify our fish as an immature female, and identify its stomach contents; an invertebrate fish!

Excited to head to the jungle!

– Ava