Today marks our last full day at Glover’s and our last day of snorkeling!
Being our last day of Glover’s means that we have to begin packing and be ready to become immersed in a completely different ecosystem: the rainforest. Yet, I am getting ahead of myself, before we can start something new we have to finish our older projects. This was precisely the goal of today’s snorkel. We visited another non-marine protected area to collect our fourth data set. At first I was a bit skeptical about whether we would be able to collect the data with the weather conditions as it looked fairly windy. Yet, thankfully our skills have highly improved! After having gathered our data for the remaining site we all got to enjoy a fun snorkel.
It was during this second snorkel that I got to see a grey triggerfish. It was hiding behind a large patch of coral and it only came out after I swam by. It was a bit larger than I had anticipated, yet its approximate size fits between the size range I encountered during my earlier research on piscivorous fish of Belize. I am glad that I got to see another fish on my taxon ID card, and I hope to get to see the remainder on my next trip to Belize!
Our team also managed to catch yet another lion fish during our leisure snorkel. We see this piscivorous fish nearly at every patch we visit; after all, that seems pretty fitting of an invasive species! This time the lion fish was very small. After dinner we made use of all three fish that were captured during our time here. Yet before eating them we dissected them, gendered them, and removed any contents such as fat, liver and stomach that are commonly not eaten in ceviche.
Then Chef Solomon took over to make the ceviche. Here is a photo of the lion fish ceviche that was made!
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!
Spoiler alert: no mollusks were found this day (Monday June 13, 2022).
As is indicative of me posting this a whole day later, yesterday had me out for the count. I became over confident, so trusting in myself and a single Dramamine tablet’s ability to keep me safe. I was oh so incorrect.
At 7:00AM, we showed up to the dining hall for breakfast, as usual. It was a windy night, followed by a windy morning. We were all aware of this, but this was our last chance: we had to make it to the fore-reef that day, or else we weren’t going to. So I popped a Dramamine, and hoped for the best, as did the rest of the crew.
Come 8:00AM, we were geared up and hopping on the boat to head for a break in the reef crest, going to the full wave action of the ocean, whose energy wouldn’t be broken by an atoll of coral. The change was immediately noticeable when we passed the crest, both in wave size and in the state of my body’s well-being. As the sea began to churn with boat sized waves, so did my stomach. No turning back now.
We continued onward to a spot at which coral should be visible at the ocean floor, but that would be significantly deeper than anything we’ve experienced so far. We ventured to the drop off point, the place where the bottom dropped from 60 ft to over a hundred. With half of the team already feeling seasick, we hopped into the water to begin our activity, to experience the fore reef.
And I must say, it was magnificently stunning, deep blue water at a depth that made the whole world feel small, with comb jellies swimming right below us en mass, and a giant sea turtle resting at the bottom of the sea. It was an experience like no other, and I wish that the sea had been calmer or my body better acclimated so I could enjoy it to its full degree.
comb jellies! (picture courtesy of Phoenix)
But alas, each time I popped my head above water, my entire being would return to the fact that the sea is not my friend, and that the world was in fact churning. As quickly as we got there, we loaded back into the boat, a little worse for the wear, but having experienced something awesome.
When we returned to our island, I laid on the dock for an hour, simply trying to be able to stand without having the overwhelming feeling of needing to vomit. The sea bested me. It won. When I thought I was better, I went onward to watch the day’s lectures and then to lunch with the rest of the team. This is when I started to realize that it wasn’t done with me yet, the sea sickness. No, it had me in its grips. Even after 2 extra strength Tylenol during the lectures, I had to stop chewing at lunch because my body and my head rejected it: the headache was beginning. By the time we got to the planning stage of our next activity, a beach cleanup effort with an added scientific approach question, I couldn’t lift my head without it hurting, nor wear my glasses, and the world was so bright, even when I borrowed sunglasses. A migraine had hit. I felt so bad abandoning my team, but the professors understood and told me to go and lay down, which I truly needed.
I returned at dinner, still not feeling 100%, but at least able to walk around and be there. I didn’t return to my full capacity until the next morning, after a full night’s sleep ushered along by 2 Dramamine. I don’t know whether to say I learned my lesson, or to say I’d still do it again, just better prepared next time. I guess time will tell
During my time of rest, the rest of the TFBs were so productive and did so good: they collected more than 60kg of trash off the beach’s of the Middle Caye (our island), over 80% of which was burnable on site. They also created a poster with this data (see picture), which they presented to the professors. So proud!
Today marks our final day on Glover’s Reef Research Station! We started the day with a morning snorkel, finishing the last of our data collection for our research project we started a few days ago. I heard from Elena that there were some more ctenophores here but I wasn’t lucky enough to see them myself. This time around I was finally able to find and collect some urchins during our urchin survey! We also did one final snorkel in a new area just to see the reefs one last time before our departure. Some highlights include: Caribbean reef squids, another lionfish speared, and I saw a pufferfish!
If you look closely you can see a sea urchin hidden in the dead coral, and on top is a christmas tree wormSome pretty bladed fire coral (do not touch!)
After returning from our morning snorkel we spent the afternoon combining and analyzing our data from the previous day’s collections, and created a poster presenting our project and its conclusions to our professors. Based on our (limited) data, we were able to see that on patches of reef with a higher percentage of dead corals, there were also a higher number of sea urchins we were able to collect. But there was no clear correlation between a patch being within the protected area and the percent of dead coral. Here is a picture of our lovely poster (I drew the little urchin heart)!
This afternoon we were able to eat a unique delicacy that helps get rid of a pesky invader of the reefs: lionfish ceviche! Over the course of our stay, our professors speared three of them, and we finally put them to good use! But of course as scientists, before we made the ceviche, we dissected each lionfish and determined its sex, weight, length, and saw its stomach contents! My group had an exceptionally large fish that we nicknamed “Main Course”, whose carnage we removed unfortunately spilled onto my lab notebook (good thing its waterproof!). The long awaited ceviche was delicious!
Dr. Solomon trimming the venomous spines from the lionfish
Then I spent the rest of the night packing up all of my stuff that has become so brutally disorganized over the past few days that I’ve just accepted that nothing in my duffel bag will be entirely clean or easily found. I’ll be very sad to leave this place in the morning (especially in anticipation of the four hour boat ride), but I’m so beyond excited for where we are going next!
Today was the last day at Glover’s Reef, and we made the most of it! Soon after breakfast, we all got into our snorkel gear to spend the morning finishing our coral/urchin quadrat and transect experiment. When I went into the snorkel shed, I noticed that my dive suit was gone. I asked and looked around, and it came to my attention that Caio (Dr. Correa’s ten-year-old son) wears the same size suit as me. When I found him, he was comfortably suited up in my “NeoSpo” suit. Instead of switching, I put his on, and we got this cute photo!
The last site of our experiment was a non-MPA reef, and Liliana and I zoomed through our data collection. We have gotten to be really efficient! I saw a lot of my taxa here! I spotted a num anemone and warty corallimorph, and I got pictures that clearly show the anemone’s inward mouth (first picture) and the corallimorph’s upturned mouth (second picture).
I also so another red beaded anemone! This one was fully red/brown, and it had bumpy tentacles (the other one had smooth tentacles).
NEW TAXA SIGHTING: I saw a corkscrew anemone! This is a tiny anemone, and I git a photo! The one I came across was less than a centimeter in diameter with thin tentacles ringed with white, making them appear like corkscrews. I was so excited to find one of these attached to a piece of rubble!
Going back to the boat, we found seven Caribbean reef squids lined up in a row! They were such interesting creatures to see.
We then went on a fun snorkel (the last one), where I got to see so many beautiful fish! However, the water conditions were very rough, so it was a bit like being in a washing machine.
I did spot sponge zoanthids! These <1cm yellow/orange polyps were colonial across the surface of a green branching vase sponge! I was so excited to get this last sighting in 🙂
After lunch, we analyzed our coral/urchin data and made a poster! If you’ve noticed, all of our reef posters have a special heart <3
After dinner, we measured and dissected the three lionfish Dr. Solomon caught over the days at the reef. My group named our fish Appetizer. We then ate the lionfish in ceviche! I was glad to do my part in removing these invasive species but also putting their meat to good use, and I’m so happy that Liliana’s lionfish-eating dreams finally came true!
With my incredibly tanned hands, I will wave Glover’s Reef goodbye tomorrow morning. I’ve had an amazing time here and have learned so much, and I can’t wait to continue this journey in other ecosystems! Tomorrow’s destination = savanna!
In 6 minutes we’re going to make lionfish ceviche. I have always wanted to eat a lionfish since I started working at the New England Aquarium and learned about them as an invasive species, I knew I had to do my part to help. Unfortunately (? maybe fortunate) they’re not found in New England, and I haven’t been desperate enough to go to Florida just to eat a lionfish. We caught our first lionfish a few days ago and it was huge, since then we caught about 2 more. I have no idea if I’ll like lionfish ceviche, since I’ve never had ceviche before.
In other things we did today, we went to a non-protected reef to finish our coral data collection, and then another reef just for fun. Did not encounter many crustaceans today other than the normal hermit crab population here.
I can’t believe it’s our last night here, I don’t think I’m ready to go, there’s still so much to learn and explore here on the reef and the island. I think it’ll be hard to adjust to the new environment but hopefully it’ll be just as much fun!
Our day started our with our first journey to the Fore Reef (outer reef)! The stony corals there are much bigger and seem for the most part healthier (although there is still some disease). We swam through a bunch of harmless ctenophores (similar to jelly fish) that Phoenix identified as Comb Jellies. They have a distinctive jelly feel and appearance with a translucent color which made it difficult to capture on camera! It was super cute! Michael also spotted a loggerhead sea turtle! The Fore Reed was a little rough so we headed back to Middle Caye.
There we started our data collection of all sorts of trash that has been collecting on the atoll. From Nate’s presentation, we learned that there is a gyre in the Gulf between Belize and Honduras that collects a lot of trash that will wash up on the shore and harm the environment and wildlife. After some hard thinking, we decided to research the percentage of trash that could be properly disposed of and destroyed on island. We predicted that > 50% of the trash we collected could be disposable and split into groups. My group went to the coral cemetery and there was so much trash here. The heart breaking part of picking up trash is when the trash was so brittle that it would break and make more microplastics. Nate found a perfectly preserved- mummified box fish skeleton which was so incredible! I’ve never seen something so well preserved! The fish even had teeth! SO FLIPPING COOL!
Once all the groups were back from collecting our trash we discovered that Middle Caye did not have the resources to take recycle plastics or take them to the mainland regularly, and that they burn all plastics so our hypothesis was sadly off in the fact that more than half of the trash we collected could be recycled and destroyed in a more ecofriendly manner. We can only bring a bag of glass and metal with us compared with the 6. In the future we decided to bring sacs instead of trash bags to collect the trash and it made us all much more aware of the trash we were generating on island.
Post trash sorting photo taken by McKenna!
I had my presentation on annelids and hydroids today. Michael and Sophia asked two important questions that I did not know the answers too so I did some research today to answer them.
What eats these annelids on the reef?
Many worms are eaten by mostly many reef fishes such as wrasses or angelfish species.
Why are Christmas tree worms so many different colors?
One article said that Christmas tree worms will often be in colors that match the reef around them, but I have seen worms that are colors that don’t match the reef around them. Another article says that the host coral can influence the color of worms and that the color of Christmas tree worms can be used to determine coral health.
Tonight at dinner, one of our wonderful guides, Ruth, taught us all about the history of Belize, the demography and mix of cultures present, and the many attractions of Belize! I am getting so excited to see more of Belize!
Contrary to this blog’s title, today was an exciting day! We went out this morning to the fore reef, which is the area of open ocean that’s right outside of the atoll. There, since the waves are stronger and the water is deeper, the organisms are typically much bigger, as they need to be stronger to withstand the greater wave energy, and they have more room to grow upwards. We saw some really cool organisms from a distance because the bottom was maybe 70 feet below the surface and none of us (except the water safety officers) could hold our breath long enough to get to the bottom. Some of the cool organisms we saw included comb jellies, which were floating near the surface, and if you looked really closely, you could see that their combs were lit up with electricity. We also saw a school of medium blue fish that we weren’t able to identify, a sea turtle, most likely a green sea turtle, that was just sitting on the bottom, and a huge barrel sponge. Unfortunately, I did not see any brown algae, as it is too small to see from 70 feet above the reef. surprisingly, I saw minimal sargassum, which I think was due to the fact that the waves were so choppy.
a comb jelly! (picture courtesy of Phoenix)
possible green sea turtle!
Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t really cooperating with us, so we had to head out pretty quickly. Lucky for us, that meant we could get the nightly presentations done in the morning in anticipation of a possible night snorkel.
The afternoon was a whole other ball game. Last night, we heard from the Belize Fisheries Department manager, and he spoke a bit about starting beach cleaning efforts on Middle Caye. Today, we did a beach clean up, but being TFBs, we had to incorporate science somehow! You can read about our research below 🙂
our poster
I was doing clean up in the mangrove area behind the kitchen, and there was a lot of trash! It was sort of sad because even though we had two giant trash bags overflowing with trash, we had hardly made a dent. We spent the whole afternoon doing the beach clean up, sorting the trash, and weighing it, before putting the trash back into the bags so they could be properly disposed of. The people at the Coral Graveyard also found a box fish skeleton!
box fish skeletontrash party! -unfortunately I did not get any pictures during the actual trash sorting, since I didn’t want to touch my phone
After the trash shindig we finished the last presentation, and then, courtesy of Nate, we got to watch a hermit crab change shells! I had seen videos of it yesterday in Lilliana’s crustacean presentation, but it was cool to see in real life. We then went to dinner, and since the weather wasn’t looking good enough for a night snorkel, we hung out and talked to Ruth, the water safety officer, about her experiences as a native Belizean, as well as the natural history of the country.
While most Mondays may be trash, today was certainly a good day! Tomorrow is the last full day on the reef, and we have a lot to do, so I will keep you all posted!
the boat in the open ocean above the fore reefSophia diving
Even though the weather has been kind of windy and almost stormy recently, we decided to explore the fore-reef this morning! The water outside the atoll was choppier than usual but that’s what made it fun. I swear my gear hates me as my fin buckle broke (but Dr. Correa fixed it in true marine biologist fashion with some capo ties), and then as I was jumping in, my snorkel became detached from my mask and I had to dive down to grab it… As we were in the water, the swells were soothing and it was amazing to look at the drop-off of the slope. Here, there was so much coral growth and even a Green Sea Turtle! We also saw lots of Comb Jellies and some unidentified blue fish (possibly parrotfish?). No specific red algae sightings as we were too far up to exactly see anything but I am sure there was plenty on the sea floor below. Because of the weather and character of the waves, we sadly were only in the fore-reef for about 30 or so minutes. However, I am now super motivated to try to get scuba certified so I could explore more cool places like it for deeper depths and longer periods of time!!
After lunch we then began our next experiment, taking a break from our reef experiment, we began a new one that was about picking up trash and cleaning the shore line of the Middle Caye. We were trying to figure out how much of the trash would have to be transported to shore and how much could be burned. Before we began, Nate gave a presentation about marine debris and all of the different sources of trash (80% of which is from land based sources) and learned about the Gulf of Honduras Gyre that is a current that circulates the trash around and pushes it towards Glover’s Cayes. As Elena and I were cleaning up a small ~ 30 square foot area in only 30 minutes, we were able to pick up 28.7kg of trash… and it didn’t even look like we made a dent in it. With everyone’s combined efforts in three different areas, we were able to collect a total of 64.54kg of trash within an hour. Absolutely insane. Also, because of transportation issues, Grover’s has to burn all of the trash (except for glass and metal) because there is simply too much trash for them to transfer to landfills with the amount of boats that they have/logistics. As we were sorting the trash, we went through so many everyday items that it really made you start thinking about what products you consume/use and how they are packaged. I now am super interested in beach clean up as it is a direct way to help our ocean and maybe even join Rice’s Beach Cleanup group. (Also someone found a super cool mummified box fish !!!)
After some music to pick up our energy while sorting trash, making a poster and presenting it, we had some free time before and after dinner. After dinner, one of our marine safety officers, Ruth, explained some of Belize’s history which is so interesting. There are only 400,000 people in Belize and it’s about the size of Massachusetts but it has such a diverse population. There are foods and languages from all different cultures: Indian, Chinese, Kriol, British, Mestizo, etc, it sounds amazing. I think she has convinced all of us that Belize has a lot to offer and that we all need to visit more 😉
After checking the weather report, this morning was the best chance we had to go and see the forereef. The forereef is the region of the barrier of coral around the atoll that is facing the open ocean. Outside of the protection of the wall, the ocean waves are far more intense. The boat ride over was a tad more nauseating than others, and the swells were quite an intimidating sight to see before jumping in. However, once in the water, the waves were far less burdensome than I expected. The water was significantly deeper than any other region we have been before. The reef was ~70’ down, but it boarded a significant drop far deeper than I could see. There was a beautiful school of blue fish that we were able to swim through, and the water was littered with small translucent and barely glowing ctenophore. There were massive colonies of stony corals just below us. I would imagine they’re many of the same species I encountered in the lagoon, but were able to grow to larger scales because of the deeper conditions. In the shallow patch reefs, the corals have to contend with very bright light, harsh UV, and warmer temperatures. Yet although these colonies were larger, there were still obvious signs of disease. The distance was too far to see any detail, but the lesions were quite evident from above. I truly love how throughout this trip we continue to explore new places each time.
After returning back to land, we worked to clean up debris from some of the beaches of the island. Although messy, we collected, sorted, and analyzed the trash which accumulates on the shores. The debris either has to be disposed of on-site or shipped back to land, and it was quite interesting to learn that they burn everything possible (including plastic). Between this activity and Nate’s excellent talk describing marine debris, it left me questioning my participation in convenience consumerism. Every toothbrush, bottle cap, plastic container, bag, and more will continue to persist in the environment for hundreds of years. In this afternoon’s lecture, a chart showing the largest marine plastic polluting countries in the world were not the largest plastic consumers. The west appears to have superior management of waste, yet western countries continue to ship single-use plastic waste to other regions of the world for “recycling.” Yet in many of these cases, it’s this plastic that is ending up in the oceans. So who is truly to blame? The countries where the trash is released into waterways due to relatively poor management, or the western countries which ship their waste out of sight with the facade of recycling to lessen the social shame of convenience consumerism.
Just before dinner, we saw the rare sight of a hermit crab changing shells. Watching it shift its squirmy shrimp-like body from one shell to another was fascinating yet a bit unnerving. During dinner, one of our Marine Safety Officers Ruth gave us an in-depth information session about Belizean history and her career path to being here helping us. It was super fun, and I hope to find a career I am in love with like she is with hers. But on that note, I am now questioning what aspect of biology I want to pursue. I have always planned on going into medicine, but my experience during college has pushed me towards a love of research. I understand that most research is not like this, out on a gorgeous island, yet I wonder if research overall is something I would rather do than dermatology. Studying papers and information about coral diseases was a great time, and I think fulfilled much of the same curiosity I am hoping to satisfy with a career in medicine. But understandably no one wants a truly creative doctor, as medicine has some pretty ridged defined boundaries for most disciplines. Yet the goal of research itself is to push our current boundary of knowledge and make the unknown known. Depending on how the rest of my time at Rice goes, I could see what I thought as my career path shift in the direction of scientific and/or pre-clinical research. Overall, this class continues to be an incredible and influential experience.
