Monthly Archives: May 2025

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Diving in! (5/25)

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Hey y’all!

I have never woken up to a more beautiful view than this! It was a very windy night–it’s still windy–but the water looks like it’s filled with diamonds! We got to snorkel for the first time today, starting slow to make sure there weren’t any problems with our equipment. I’m carrying my phone in a sleeve, but I didn’t figure out until after the practice swim how to take pictures underwater, so I didn’t get any great coral pictures this morning.

We then swam out to the patch coral, clumps of coral the size of a van or a bit larger in the middle of seagrass beds. I saw a bunch of cool corals, a baby Barracuda closer to the dock, and a few juvenile Damselfishes that I think were either Longfin Damselfish or Cocoa Damselfish because they had yellow bodies with dashes of blue across the head and back. I gotta say, the currents were a lot stronger than I expected!

After lunch, we hopped on the boat and rode out about ten minutes to a couple of patch coral reefs and were tasked with taking as many pictures as possible of our animal groups. I had a hard time using my phone in the waterproof sleeve to get pictures of Damselfish, but I’m pretty sure I saw a few adult Dusky Damselfish protecting their reef patches and chasing off trespassing fish. The second site had so many Damselfish! I saw some young Threespot Damselfish, young Beaugregory Damselfish, a bunch of Sergeant Majors, and even an adult Yellowtail Damselfish! (My phone was almost dead at this point, but thankfully Emily helped me to video some of the Damselfish I saw!)

One last shoutout today to all the hermit crabs lining up for the nighttime beach party…all except the lone sand crab.

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Riding the waves! (5/24)

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Hey y’all!

Today was another big travel day! We left the Tropical Education Center in the morning after a lovely breakfast and hit the road heading to Belize City. Along the way, we saw the landscape change from dry savannah to boggy mangroves, trees that have really tall roots that help them live in brackish (between salt and fresh) water.

We stopped at Old Belize, an marina just outside of Belize City that functions as a water park, museum, and inn and restaurant spot. After we ate our lunch in the cafeteria area next to the pool and checked out the gift shop, we boarded the van and drove to Princess Marina, where our boat, the Manta Ray, awaited. The boat ride was absolutely stunning, and I have never seen water so blue! When we got to the reef crown, the ride got so rocky I lost contact with my seat a few times!

We arrived at Glover’s Reef at 4 pm and got an orientation about the station from the manager, Mr. Kenneth. He told us about how Glover’s is a heritage site that is used by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Belize Fisheries Department, and the Belize Coast Guard. He showed us to our dorms, which are literally a beachside dream! Tomorrow, we’re gonna snorkel for the first time this trip, so hoping to get some really great pictures, especially for my animal group: Damselfishes!

 

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Day 14: Island Cleanup

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Today was our last day at the Glover’s Reef research station. I can hardly believe it! Today, we combined doing a little bit of cleanup on the island with our final experiment of the trip. we looked at the density of trash in several places on the island, hypothesizing that the regions facing into the atoll would have less trash on the beach than the areas facing outwards, towards open ocean. We went to three sites and took pictures and then cleaned them up a bit. We filled six large trash bags in total, but if we had had more we probably could have kept working for days. Lots of plastic had accumulated. When we got back, we analyzed our photographs and made our final poster. Looking at our pictures, we didn’t see a distinction between the different beaches on average. We estimated percent coverage of trash using evenly sized squares and still couldn’t see a difference, but it’s possible that our methods were imprecise or biased.

Working on our final poster

After lunch, we dissected lion fish. Lionfish are invasive to the Atlantic and can pose a huge threat to reef ecosystems, so removing them is actually doing a service—it’s another type of cleanup, in a way. It was cool to look at all the different internal structures of the lionfish. My group had a medium sized lionfish so we were able to make out all the organ. We even looked at what was inside our lionfish’s stomachs, and my group’s fish had four smaller fish partially digested. It was hard to make out what they were, as some were in a pretty broken down state, but there were a lot of them. One of them might have been a wrasse based on coloration. It was very cool to see. We removed the head and got a lesson on how lionfish suction feeding works as well. After, we turned them over to the professors, who made them into a delicious ceviche.

Our lionfish, de-spined and ready for dissection
Trying lionfish ceviche

After that, all that was left to was pack. It’s incredible that the trip is drawing to a close—it feels like it’s gone by so fast, but it’s also been jam-packed with tons of cool and interesting activities. I got to refine my scientific skills in a beautiful location. There were some uncomfortable parts, sure, but overall it was an incredible experience. Tomorrow we’re leaving at 6:00 AM. I’ll have more to say in my final blog, but my impressions now are definitely that this experience was something I am lucky to have and something that will be tough to top.

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Day 14: The Lion, the Fish, and the (War)Dock

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Though today was our last day at GRRS, it was still nonetheless an eventful one. We started the day by picking up trash around the island, to try to help out wherever we can. Though we filled up six huge trash bags, we felt like we didn’t make much of a dent, which was a pretty depressing.

A little good news though, was that I found my missing left airpod! On the second night here, I had dropped my airpods in our room in the middle of the night and couldn’t find my left one. However, I wasn’t sure if the left airpod had even made it to our room, and the last findmy location made it seem like some crab picked it up and took it to their burrow. However, it actually just landed in Sam’s shoe, so the pair is now fully back together again!

Anyways, back to the trash pickup. We also turned it into a small research project, observing how trash distribution would differ between the sides of the island that were facing in the atoll (towards the lagoon) vs. facing the open ocean. We ended up using our quadrats again!

In the afternoon, we dissected a lionfish! Well, “dissected.” I fear I’m using this quite loosely here. We tried to, and ended up just demolishing it. We found the stomach and half of a small fish, likely a cryptobenthic fish, in its stomach at least! However we did not get much further, and failed spectacularly when trying to find the otolith (sorry Elise…).

At some point we gave up and just went for it’s eyes!

After we dissected them, Dr. Solomon and Dr. Cory prepared a dip with the longish for us to try. It felt pretty exotic but also the lionfish itself didn’t have that much flavor. I don’t think I got an actual taste of it at all.

We also had a bunch of coconut and drank straight from the fruits along with eating the flesh fresh. Though I’m not the biggest coconut fan, I really enjoyed these!

We ended the day by enjoying our last sunset here on Middle Caye. The dock has been a perfect place for the sunset, and I’m truly going to miss having such a beautiful sight present daily. I know I said the same about LCRS, but I’m also truly going to miss this place.

Hope to see you again Middle Caye,

Ian C

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Day 13: Coral-ling the Blues

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We went right back to the reef today, this time with another research project on coral health and reef biodiversity in mind.

We used small 2×2 foot square quadrats and placed them over coral before counting the coral and organisms inside.

Though they were mainly for research experiment, these quadrants were also really fun to pose with!

While on the boat waiting for our last pair to finished we spotted a singular dolphin swimming and jumping by! I was hoping all along to spot a marine mammal, either a whale or a dolphin, so I was super stoked when that became reality.

Specifically, we were looking at coral health between Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and unprotected waters.

In between reefs, we found the molt of a large lobster!

In the afternoon, we compiled all our data and created our fourth poster of the class!

After we presented, we went back out to the dock to relax a bit and enjoy the view. While we were there, someone caught a bonefish! It was super cool and we all got to touch it. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel scaly at all but rather really smooth and mucusy.


While we were on the dock, the brown pelican that’s been diving around us perched on the dock, which was super cool.

Anyways, that’s all for today! See you tomorrow for our last full day at Glover’s Reef!

Ian C

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Day 13: MPAs and coral health

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Today, we ran another experiment. We wanted to identify and analyze the impacts of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on coral health. In MPAs, human activity is limited. This should theoretically lead to healthier and more stable coral populations. Glover’s Reef is one of seven MPAs in Belize, and we wanted to see whether that intention was actually working. In order to do this, we went to four locations—two in the MPA and two in unprotected areas—and looked at the coral there, analyzing the biodiversity and algae coverage. Each snorkel team looked at three sites per location. We took pictures of the coral with square quadrats to have evenly sized regions with which we could do our calculations. In total, each group would analyze 12 photos, and then we would come together and draw broader conclusions.

We set out later in morning. The snorkeling was fun and it didn’t take that long to lay down the quadrats—we were only at each location for maybe 20 minutes. I’m getting very used to the reefs—I feel like I know exactly what I’ll find beneath the surface. One exciting surprise was that we saw a dolphin near one of our locations in the MPA. It was tough to make out because it was far off, but what a cool experience. We got back around lunch and took a break to change and eat.

After lunch, we analyzed our data. Although we had limited sites, there seemed to be higher biodiversity on average in the MPA. Algae coverage is another metric of reef health, as fish populations will keep algae from smothering the reef. We were not in full agreement about whether there was more in the non-MPA sites, so we decided that aspect was inconclusive. Still, it did look like the MPA corals were healthier overall. We presented the poster—which is our fourth!—and then had some free time.

After dinner, we closed out the day with taxon & topic presentations. I had my last one today, on cryptobenthic fish. I think it went well! I’m glad that I’ve gotten to see some, and I feel like my classmates were interested in it as well.

Working on the poster
Snorkeling outside the MPA
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Day 13: MPA Day!

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May 28, 2025
GRRS Day 4
Another great day to be a TFB! In the morning, we developed a project to investigate the benefit of Marine Protected Areas. A Marine Protected Area is an area in which human activity (such as fishing) is restricted to promote ecosystem health. Because Glover’s contains both protected areas and non-protected areas, we could have easy access to observe both areas. We decided to use quadrats, or 2’x2’ squares used in ecology for sampling areas representative of a larger habitats. By placing them and finding out the amount of species inside them, we could determine which area has a generally healthier ecosystem. Our observations, though statistically insignificant due to small sample size, showed that Marine Protected Areas had healthier ecosystems. As always, our poster presentation is included below!
In addition to placing the quadrats, our morning snorkel had many cool things to see, including many cool wrasses! I was excited to see a mature yellow headed wrasse, as I haven’t seen many adults thus far!
In the closing meeting, our professors shared that tomorrow we would be packing to head out bright and early on Friday morning, and wow, I can’t believe we’re already here at the end of the course!
Images:
MPA Project Poster
Adult Yellowheaded Wrasse
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Day 12: Docks Full of Sunshine

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Today was our first entirely land bound day, which though at first was disappointing ended up being a really nice change in pace.

We went out to the dock to pass a bit of time and spotted a young lemon shark swimming by. It was the first of many appearances for this little guy.

We then began our day by compiling our parrotfish data from the previous day and creating our third poster of the class discussing our findings.

Once we finished, we waded out by the dock and tried to see what we could find, catch, and collect from the surrounding areas. There were tons of small schools of fish, and the lemon shark kept circling by to try to catch them. We ended up catching three large hermit crabs and a red land crab, along with a baby crab, two snails, and five small fish.

In the afternoon we finally explored the rest of the island. Though it’s only a 20 minute slow stroll around, each part proved to be super interesting and unique.

First up was the coral graveyard, which was a beach made up of almost entirely fossilized corals. There were a ton of different species, including Montastraea cavernosa, or the great star coral, which has huge polyps, brain corals, and purple sea fans!

The waters were also filled with sea urchins and starfish, which felt really weird when they moved.

Further along the trail is a really nice sandy beach, where we spotted a small dead pufferfish.

We also saw tons and tons of sprouting coconuts!

After our hike we went back to the dock to yap and nap before presentations…

…and then again before dinner.

We ended the night back out on the dock, dangling a couple flashlights to attract fish. Initially we only attracted plankton, but soon we spotted and caught a ton of small fish, shrimp, glass eels, and even a squid!

Though we never made it to any reefs, today was a much needed and eventful rest day. Excited to get back out on the reefs though!

Ian C

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Day 13: MPAyyyee

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Today we researched if MPAs vs non-MPAs have a higher species richness and fish abundance based off number of coral species and number of fish and other organisms. We met in the morning to discuss this research project and complete a plan. Once we had our plan down to use quadrants we set off to two non-MPA sites and two MPA sites. In one of the sites we saw jellyfish (we were later informed that these jellies don’t sting). We also saw a dolphin at the last site!

In the afternoon we discussed our results and made a poster. We concluded that MPAs or marine protected areas had a higher species richness and more fish abundance. Visually Zoe and I also noticed that the non-MPAs had way more algae coverage and the coral reefs themselves seemed to look more dead. No eel sightings today.

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Day 12: Sea-ing a Squid!

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Today we finished our parrotfish study. We concluded that parrotfish mainly eat algae. On the reef Zoe and I saw numerous stoplight parrotfish. We met as a group for most of the morning and made our poster. In the afternoon we met to walk the trails around the island. We went to “the graveyard” which is a beach full of fossilized   corals and shells. We learned that these shells and corals all eventually become the limestone that forms the caves of Belize. It was really cool to see how the dead and bleached corals looked compared to the living ones that we have been seeing on the reef. We also saw several critters such as sea urchins, sea snails, a sea star, and more.

We also waded through the sea grass to see what we could find. The highlight was a huge crab and a couple fishes!

At night it was too windy for a night swim, so we dropped a light off the dock and observed and caught several things that were attracted to the light. The plankton is attracted to the light, which attracts the fish, and the fish’s predators. We were able to see glass eels (the larvae form of fish and eels that swim in open ocean), shrimp, fish, and a squid! Claire managed to catch the squid and we got to see it ink! We searched up what the glass eel was and it was a bone fish larvae.