May 26, 2025

GRRS Full Day 2

Believe it or not- it was another great day to be a TFB (tropical field biologist!) This morning began with a project regarding parrotfish, which are a subfamily of wrasses! Parrotfish have notoriously mysterious eating habits – we know they eat coral, seagrass, and algae, but recent studies have suggested that they may be eating other things on these large observable things, so we mark down the large observable while missing what they’re actually trying to eat. Our hypothesis: We will find that different parrotfish species will eat different things in the reef. Our method of study: Fish Follow Surveys. This method, as is indicated by the name, is one where a researcher (or in our case, a pair of researchers) follows a fish for a couple minutes and records its activity. My partner, Claire, and I were assigned to the Stoplight Parrotfish. In both the morning and afternoon sessions we conducted our Fish Follow Surveys on many different members of the Stoplight Parrotfish species, with some images below. 

In the evening, in addition to Noelle and Sohee’s presentations on Surgeonfishes and mine on Wrasses, we heard from Kenneth, Manager of GRRS (employed by the Wildlife Conservation Society,) a Marine Biologist from the Belize Fisheries Department, and Chock, a member of the Belize Coast Guard, and we heard about what they do to support the life of Glover’s Reef Atoll and the other rich biodiversity of Belize’s coast. Fun fact: Belize has the largest living coral reef (keyword: living. The Great Barrier Reef of Australia is the largest reef, but it is unfortunately dying) 

I’m excited to compile the FFS data tomorrow with the rest of the class (who all worked on other species of parrotfish) and explore the terrestrial side of an Atoll’s Island.

Images: