Today we finally finished our sea urchin/coral health correlation study. Unfortunately the last reef we surveyed was not the healthiest, with very little reef structure or live coral. However, there were Sooo many urchins. We collected over 170 of them. I remember turning over a rock and seeing both the rock and the sand under it simply covered in urchins. I had to get someone next to me to come help me collect them because I couldn’t carry them all.
We also saw reef squid for the first time. There were seven of them right off the boat, and they seemed to be all in a straight line in the middle of the water column. I didn’t see any new species of green algae, but I did see some very unique looking individuals. One was a a green bubble algae (dictyospaeria cavernosa) that looked way more yellow than any I had seen before. When I lifted it up it looked like the inside of the bible had been completely filled with sand!
I also saw a Ventricaria ventricosa (sea pearl) that looked like a deep shade of blue that really stood out from the dark green I usually see. I am not sure what caused this appearance but it was really pretty!
When we finished collecting and analyzing our data, we found a that more sea urchins were correlated with a lower percentage of coral cover being alive. However, our conclusion was highly suspect as for example, we got better and better at finding urchins each time we collected data.
Finally, at the end of the night we dissected the lion fish we had speared over the course of the week. It was a little gross, but it was also really cool to open up the stomach and find the little fish the lion fish had been eating still inside!
Hi all, it’s Faith with Day 7 updates from the 2022 Belize trip!!!
Today we woke up and gathered our last non-mpa reef data. The waves were brutal; McKenna described them as, “being thrown in a washing machine.” The reef was about 5 feet deep, and it was mostly sand. The winds made this data collection positivelyhorrendous! It was really hard to keep our quadrats in place, and the transect tape kept coming undone. I EVEN GOT FIRE CORALED (or “fire hydroided” since fire corals are actually hydroids). Nevertheless, we powered through.
The urchin collecting went surprisingly well. Today we collected 177 E. viridis (Reef boring urchins). per usual, we found them burrowed in tight niches of branched hard corals and under rocks. We found some exceptionally large ones today being 1.25 inches + !!! Even though there are always urchins we can’t grab, I usually notice more species variation on the reef. However, this patch reef only had E. viridis; there were no pencil slate urchins or boring urchins in sight!
Outside of the urchin hunt, we didn’t find any other echinoderms. I’ve really enjoyed being the urchin- identifier on the urchin counting team for the past few days. I realize I haven’t described it much, but that is because we usually only find Reef urchins and the occasional sea egg. Today, however, I got to throw the urchins back into the sea. They look like little soot sprites as they float to the bottom.
After the data dive, we went on a recreational snorkel. I was also fire coraled here, but I’ll forgive it. This reef had significantly less urchins than the non-mpa reef we had snorkeled earlier. The ones I saw were E. viridis and they were burrowed in coral crevices. Even though we didn’t do a formal collection, the reef had a visibly lower urchin count.
This reef also surprised us with 2 Caribbean reef squid (the only squid in the Caribbean), 2 spiny lobster, and a lionfish! (I found the lionfish btw)
Back on land, Caio showed me how to catch lizards so that I would be prepared for seeing them in Las Cuevas. (I think he likes me more now that he knows I’m the reptile taxon). According to the Caio technique, you have to cup the lizard with your hands when they can’t see you. Then, you let the front legs perch on two fingers while you press (lightly) on their torso with your thumb. I put a picture of me holding one below! The lizards we caught we brown anoles (A. sangrei), and they were climbing the trees behind the kitchen.
Later in the day, we analyzed our data about corals and urchins, answering the question, “how does the sea urchin population correlate with the live coral count, and how does this change across mpa and non-mpa reefs?” Our data was mostly inconclusive because of our improved ability to find sea urchins and environmental factors.
Last but not least, we dissected the 3 lionfish we hunted! Liliana got to dissect the big one; meanwhile, Maegan, Michiel, Ava, and I dissected “Snack,” the small 23.6g immature female. We didn’t get much data besides that, but she did eat a tiny fish in her limited years. Snack, Appetizer, and MC (main course) made a great ceviche. Also MC was a giant lionfish weighting 680g!
Anyways I’m about to enjoy some ceviche, till tomorrow!
QOTD: “Surchin af”
“BRB I’m gonna go rub this book on my head”
E. Viridis from urchin hunting!Ceviche Prep!!!Dissecting Snack, the small lionfishMe holding an Anolis sangrei, brown anoleCaribbean Reef squid I found
Our last full day at Glover’s 🙁 We started it off with our last data collection for Sunday’s research question about coral cover and sea urchin abundance at a non-MPA site. This was pretty quick as we have all become really efficient with our methods and were even able to collect 177 (!!!) sea urchins, all Echinometra viridis. It was pretty sad how dead this reef was but I still saw an Amber Pinshell mollusk and some Common Sea Fan. We were also able to go to a protected area where there were so many different reef fish and I got to dive down a lot to observe them closer. The water was pretty rough but it made it all the more fun! I saw lots of Branching Vase Sponge, saucer leaf brown algae, Jania spp. and Amphiora fragilissima red algae, a parrot fish, more French Angel Fish, a puffer, and some stag horn coral! Also, Dr. Solomon secured us our third lion fish of the trip, a small but the perfect addition for our collection.
“Surchin for Urchins: The Correlation Between Number of Urchins and Percent Live Coral”
After finishing up our poster for the experiment, we had a few topic lectures so we would have more time for the lion fish ceviche!! After dinner, we gathered in the wet lab and first dissected the fish. We had three different sized ones: Snack, Appetizer, and Main Course. This was of course based on their sizes, and I got to work on Main Course, and it was hugeeee. We first took the 680g (!!) fish and measured the gape width and length which was about 3 cm and 3.25 cm respectively. Then, we sexed it and found out that it was a male before cutting open it’s stomach to see what was inside. It had these two little pieces that were pretty digested but we think it may have been some kind of invertebrate. It was super cool to be able to analyze the food that we were about to eat, especially something that is harmful to our environment. After all the fish were gutted and cleaned, Dr. Solomon made it into a delicious ceviche that we enjoyed with some plantain and corn chips. Highly recommend, 12/10 experience and a great way to end the first part of our trip.
We went on our last snorkeling trip to collect data from a non marine protected reef. There is saw a significant amount of bladed fire coral. I also saw a Christmas tree worm that appeared to have bored inside of fire coral which I thought was very interesting because I thought, since fire coral was an athecate hydroid colony and a hard coral, many marine organisms would avoid them due to their stinging capabilities, but they seem to support many life forms.
I also saw and photographed this Caribbean Reef Squid which was very cool! I saw some color changes on the squid when two were together so I wonder if they were communicating.
Later we dissected three lionfish ( named snack, appetizer, and main course). Our group dissected snack the smallest of the three. After collecting data we made our lionfish into ceviche dish! Muy delicioso!
Although I am sad to leave Glover’s, I have grown and learned so much. I’m so excited for the rainforest and to stay at Las Cuevas!
Today was our last day on the island :,( we did our last snorkel this morning, and tomorrow we head back to the mainland for the second half of our expedition. Each day feels like many, but then the week passed in the blink of an eye.
At 8:00AM, after breakfast, we suited up for the last time in our snorkel gear to head out on a mission to collect our last data point in the ongoing TFB research question: what is the association between live coral cover and the abundance of sea urchins on patch reefs within and outside of the Marine Protected Area of Glovers Reef Atoll?
We headed to the second non-MPA patch reef for our last transect/quadrat data collection. Our last reef science hurrah. Scott caught one more lionfish (making 3 in total of the invasive species soon to be ceviche). After our data collection was done, we went to one more MPA reef within the atoll for one last free snorkel. While the wind and waves were intense, it was a nice experience. I came across a handful more queen conchs (Strombus gigas), one milk conch (Strombus stratus), and one Amber penshell (Pinnea carnea). Everyone but me it seems got to see one or multiple Caribbean reef squids (Sepioteuthis sepioidea).
We made a poster with our analyzed data (see picture), and then after lunch, I presented my taxon lecture on mollusks (on the last day, after we’d seen all the mollusks we could have possibly seen). For dinner, they had fried conch, meaning I got to taste my taxon! It tasted like crab cakes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After dinner, we dissected the 3 lion fish we had collected through the week, identifying the sex, weight, length, and last meal. (Ours was named appetizer)! And then Scott filleted the fish and we ate them as ceviche. It was my first time trying ceviche, and it honestly just tasted like lime. Would eat again!
This time on the island was honestly remarkable, and I can’t wait for the rainforest half of the trip (although I can’t see how it could be better than this)
From our last snorkel to lionfish ceviche, today was a great day overall. We started off by heading to our final patch reef to finish collecting data on the relationship between coral cover and sea urchin abundance. The wind and waves were strong, but overall, it was a fairly smooth experience. However, the boat ride was more akin to a rollercoaster. The relationship between urchins and live coral was an interesting concept to investigate. Our data reliability may be a bit questionable (as we are far from experienced in this type of research) but the patch reefs we visited all had significant growth of brown algae, which colonizes the dead stony coral skeletons along with a multitude of other organisms. The battle between stony corals and macroalgae is constant, yet it’s clear that human-driven environmental factors have swayed many reef regions in favor of more prolific algae growth at the detriment of stony reef builders. In theory, this may bolster the local urchin population because of an increase in available algal food.
That doesn’t mean these reefs aren’t teeming with life though. I was able to see several colonies of Orbicella faveolata (some with small fish resting on the surface), tons of Porites, and even several Caribbean reef squids.
We ended the night by dissecting the invasive lionfish we caught over the past few days and then turning them into ceviche. A tasty snack to end a wonderful time on the island. I look forward to the forest, and hopefully the opportunity to spot an amphibian or two.
Collected urchinsPorites sp. (hard to tell)Orbicella faveolata
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 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!
