Tag Archives: 2017

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Day 4- I SAW A SHARK

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This was the face I made when I saw the shark. I was so excited that I smiled so hard and let water into my mouth. Also this face is disgusting but shows my joy

I SAW A SHARK. I SAW A SHARK. I SAW A SHARK. I SAW A SHARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So yeah, that happened today, highlight of my life.

AREN’T I PHOTOGENIC?? My reaction to holding the sharpest of the urchins, the Diadema antillarum

Today we compared the data we have been collected between the marine protected area (MPA) and non-protected area patch reefs. Using various methods and just observations it became clear that the MPS was healthier in regards to urchin abundance, less algae, and from out observations it looked healthier with more abundant corals.

Caribbean spiny lobster found at non-MPA site under coral cover

While doing these investigations today, I saw a Caribbean Spiny Lobster hiding under a coral reef around 11 AM probably because they are nocturnal. It was easily found because of its large antennas sticking out of the crevice that alerted me to it.

I am pretty sick of of land hermit crabs and blue land crabs by now. They are everywhere. I am started to map out their general locations because I have realized that they tend to stay in patches. So far, I have noticed that the blue hermit crabs like to be in grassier areas especially behind the showers while the land hermit crabs dominate a certain trail that heads off of the main path.

I am tired, I am itchy, but I am happy because this has been such a unique experience so far.

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Day 3- I ITCH EVERYWHERE

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Day 3, and I have learned that bugs hate me and that fire coral is mean.  I think I jinxed myself by saying I did not have any bug bites because now I am covered.  Plus I bumped some fire coral so my rear is itchy and hurts, making fire coral my least favorite coral.  Pseudodiploria labrinthiformis is easily my favorite though and I have been finding and identifying it!

Back in the world of crabs, I have stopped getting overly excited over land hermit crabs now.  I counted 213 of those little guys just today.  There is one part of the trail that is just land hermit crabs (184 in one place).  They seem to be very spotty on the island as to where they are most found.  We tried to quantify their per square meter space on the island using quadrants and a transact, but it resulted in very little crabs and brac holes being recorded when in actuality they are everywhere.

Mangrove crab on a pillar camouflaged at Middle Caye

I also saw a mangrove crab today on the pillar of the dock.  It was camouflaged above a bunch of algae.  A few minutes prior I noticed two unidentified crabs.  They were two hermit crabs on a turtle sea grass leaf very close together and moving up the leaf.  From their shells I first thought they were mollusks but then I noticed their blue pincers sticking out.  I am not sure what type of hermit crab has blue pincers, but they were interesting to watch.

AND OF COURSE, I saw some more blue land crabs at night.  They are really much more accustomed to humans than I had imagined they would be.  They don’t even run away when walk by or even when I run at them.

Well the benedryl I just took for the fire coral is kicking in and I’m about to sleep for days… well really only like 7 hours but thats alright.

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Day 2- CRABS, CRABS, AND MORE CRABS

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ARRIVED AT GLOVERS REEF ATOLL, MIDDLE CAYE!

It’s day two and we arrived at Middle Caye in Glovers Reef Atoll.  Surprisingly for waking up at 5 am, I’m still energetic about everything we are doing. Sadly my camera broke today, so I will be using others’ photos or mooching off their camera.

To get to Glovers Reef we took a bus to Belize City and then a 3 hour boat ride.  On the bus, I saw another Great Heron in a marshy area of the savannah. It was bobbing around and moving in circles, but I wasn’t able to view it for long enough to see what exactly it was trying to do.  Also as soon as we hit water, I noticed dozens of Brown Pelicans pitched on the dock or wading in water looking for fish.

Land hermit crab, found everywhere on the island

Once we got to Glovers I suddenly realized that crustaceans, and specifically crabs, are everywhere and it would not be too difficult to find them.  There is literally a trail called hermit crab trail where land hermit crabs just wonder around.  The largest I encountered was around the size of a softball and the smallest was smaller than a quarter.  My encounters of them have usually consisted of me noticing them and the crabs scurrying into the bushes.  The smallest one I saw was a pale color which confirms what I have heard that juveniles are light while adults are red.

When we went snorkeling on a patch reef I found a Spiny Spotted Lobster.  It was in the middle of a patch reef hidden beneath a covering.  I was able to see it from a hole above and below.  Since they are usually nocturnal it was not really doing anything, only slightly moving with my movements.

The night belonged to the Blue Land Crabs. They are surprisingly large and not too afraid of humans.  The crabs came out of the underbrush.  I made a friend with one and named him crabby (not very original). He started walking towards me and when I walked towards him he jut continued.  It looked as if it wanted to figure out what I was.  After 5 minutes it finally scurried away.  I am currently in the mini library here and I fully expect to see more on my walk back to my room. I am excited to see what other creatures I can find in the next few days!

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Day 6: Perspective Shift (05/21/2017)

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It can take very little to shift a perspective.

Five days ago when I snorkeled for the first time, I felt overwhelmed with the entire situation. My mind was overloaded – unable to find the balance between managing my fins and mask, observing my surroundings, staying afloat, and not getting water in my snorkel tube at the same time.

Each day marked an increased fluidity in the water, but this morning, I felt much more capable than ever before. I could focus less on the technical and more on the experience. This, in addition to the abundance of lively fish at the backreef, created an extremely rewarding explorative experience.

Today’s reef was shallow with large mounds of coral, saturated with brightly colored fish swimming in every direction. The fish were juveniles and adults, swimming individually or in schools, and represented every shade of color imaginable.

I encountered many noteworthy creatures today at the reef – two more donkey dung sea cucumbers (Holothuria Mexicana) covered in algae, as well as urchins (Class Echinoidea) and many brittle stars (Class Ophiuroidea) underneath rubble. The sea cucumber and urchins were sedentary, but the brittle stars scrambled to conceal themselves as soon as they were exposed. Size-wise, the urchins were on the small side, hovering about two inches in diameter, while both sea cucumbers were over a foot long. The brittle stars ranged from two-inches in diameter to about seven inches in diameter.

Holothuria mexicana and Homo sapiens

I spotted another porcupine fish (Diodon hystrix) concealed under a rocky ledge. There were also many yellow-tail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) swimming around in groups. Today’s most vivid sighting was a scorpionfish (Genus Scorpaena), cryptically colored in shades of brown and beige to assimilate into the seafloor.

Today, I realized my own perspective shift. Snorkeling no longer felt foreign to me, and I could fully immerse myself in the rich aquatic life surrounding me, creating my most fulfilling experience yet.

I am more excited than ever to see what tomorrow will bring.

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Hard Core Hard Coral Carol

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Day 6 was great! We went snorkeling on the back reef in the morning. We were collecting samples of organisms to bring back to the wet lab. Because I couldn’t take corals from the reef, I had a good time just swimming around and looking at the reef life.

When we brought our organisms back to the lab, we found a tiny octopus that hitched a ride in a shell! He was so cute, and we named him Squishy. We also found a fire worm and a mantis shrimp!

Squishy!

While everyone else was sorting through the organisms trying to identify their taxon group, Adrienne and I went back into the mangroves to collect more. We flipped over logs and emptied out big conch shells. We caught a few fish, some mollusks, and so many crabs.

My Diadema friend and me

After lunch, we did taxon and topic presentations and tried our best to quickly analyze and present our data from the trash pickup yesterday. We found that plastic waste is most abundant by number of pieces and weight.

We finished quickly, so we were able to squeeze in a quick snorkel before dinner. The wind was blowing pretty hard today, so there was a strong current. It was tough, but we were still all happy to be in the water!

To finish off the night, Ellie and I battled off some giant blue land crabs because we forgot our flashlights, and we are getting an early night. We’ll be up bright and early for snorkeling tomorrow morning!

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So Trashy

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Today was a very different day, but it was still exciting! We spent the morning on the back reef. We went through the mangroves of not-so-death and waded out to the patch reefs near the edge of the atoll. I saw a really cool fire coral that looked like a hybrid of the two species and a Caribbean Reef Squid!

Fire Coral
Caribbean Reef Squid

We spent the afternoon out of the water. Scott and Adrienne had us collect data related to marine debris on the island, so we were out in the mangroves picking up trash. We brought it back to the wet lab and had to sort and count all of it. I helped count plastics and we had 2460 pieces!

To help relieve our hot, mosquito-bitten souls, Scott and Adrienne had some fresh coconuts waiting for us after our work. We spent the evening eating coconut and playing sand volleyball. It was wonderful and relaxing even though I got smacked in the face and knocked down by a particularly powerful serve.

Once the sun went down, we went down to the dock, sunk two dive lights, and watched the wildlife come out to play in the light. We saw lots of little fish, a stingray, a shark, and a crocodile! It was a really magical experience.

2017

1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red fish, Blue fish

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Today was one of the best snorkeling days. We started the day snorkeling on the back reef. We were doing a diversity study and were trying to collect as many species as possible. There were so many different organisms. Immediately, we stumbled across a baby nurse shark hiding in the seagrass. A few minutes later, a spotted eagle ray appeared and swam by us. I have decided that my favorite fish are a porcupine fish and a trunkfish. They both look like they shouldn’t exist and are defying nature. While searching for the different species on the reef, I saw some very large lobsters.

On the back reef, I also finally saw all of the herbivorous fish on my taxon sheet. I finally saw the juvenile Pomacanthus paru French Angelfish and a Juvenile Pomacanthus arcuatus (Grey angelfish). The final fish I saw was a Acanthurus chirurgus (Doctorfish).

At around 10:40, we got back with all of our organisms. While sorting through the all the material, I discovered a baby octopus sliding toward the drain. I quickly scooped him out and placed him in a bucket. When he entered the bucket, I saw him ink a cute little splotch of black ink. We also found some fire worms, brittle stars, and lots of crabs.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

For most of the afternoon, we did data analysis and presentations. But after we finished everything, we went for a quick snorkel before dinner. The water was really rough but it was really fun! We saw a really huge nurse shark! Today, was really fun!

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My Special Hermit Crab Trash Friend Died Today :’( (Day 6)

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Unfortunately, today the weather was still too windy to go to the reef crest or to do the night snorkel. Instead, we did specimen collection on the back reef and a quick dive on the patch reef before dinner.

In the specimen collection, we picked Udotea flabellum, Halimeda tuna, Halimeda monile, Halimeda incrassate, Dictyosphaeira cavernosa, Caulerpa urvilleana, Acetabularia calcyculus, Penicillus pyriformis, Valonia utricularis, and Rhipocephalus phoenix green algae.

Some brown, red, and green algae samples we collected.

We also brought back a Sun Anemone, a Mantis Shrimp, a Queen conch, circle marked brittle sea stars, a bearded fireworm, and a baby Caribbean reef octopus.

A Queen Conch

During our dives I spent a lot of time looking for fish. I saw more Blue Tangs, a Spotted Moray eel, a French Angelfish, Four-eyed Butterfly Fish, a Cat shark (?), a Grey Angelfish, and French Grunts.

The tail of a Spotted Moray Eel.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our last full day on Glover’s Reef. It will be nice to be less salty than I’ve been, but I am really going to be sad leaving this amazing place, especially if we don’t get a chance to go to the reef crest before we go.

2017

Day 6 – Eat, Snorkel, Sleep, Repeat.

Hi friends,

The highlight of today was checking out the same patch reef we did on the first day. Except with stronger currents and more experience. And that worked out pretty well!

In the morning we checked out a backreef on another side of the island. It was very shallow compared to the one yesterday but it had a larger variety of organisms there which was awesome! Unfortunately I did not take my camera with me so I do not have photographs of them. I’m pretty sure I saw a Nassau grouper, and most of the organisms in my annelid taxon ID card. We then collected many of them to bring back for further examination in the wet lab. I picked up a queen conch (Lobatus gigas) on the way back to add to the collection.

Queen conch (Lobatus gigas) that I caught! You can see its eyes clearly in this picture.

We then split up the organisms we caught and presented on them. We caught several bearded fireworms (Hermodice carunculata) and I gotta say I spent too much time trying to provoke one of them and bristle its parapodia. It was interesting seeing the organisms that we have learned about and watching their behaviors. I witnessed a hermit crab actually changing its shell which was so cool!

Bearded fireworm (Hermodice carunculata) that we caught.

After lunch, we returned the organisms back to the sea, had some presentations and did data analysis on the trash that we collected yesterday. We finished our report efficiently and as a reward, we got to go out to the patch reef which we examined on the first day. I was surprised by the strength of the current and it was challenging even swimming out. However after a while I managed to find inner peace and stopped struggling to swim. Instead, I decided to drift with the current to the patch reef which I eventually did. Being in the same area brought back memories of the first day and how I was struggling so badly with just staying afloat, and it felt really good to know that it took just a couple of days for me to be able to confidently snorkel and dive down to check out a patch reef. Reflecting on a deeper level, I realized that I have learned and grown so much these past few days. I’m able to identify so many new aquatic organisms now, feel more confident snorkeling, and understand so much more about field biology. Additionally, the whole group of us have been growing closer and sharing more stories with each other, and that’s always fun.

Looking forward to tomorrow,

Damien

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Anemone Heaven

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Another day in paradise. I tried waking up early to see the sunset, but a small cloud somehow managed to obscure the sun for most of it. I sat in the hammocks for a bit after, and then went to breakfast. Our first snorkel of the day took us out to a patch reef on the other side of Middle Caye, where we collected as many organisms as we could. This snorkel was special for me because I saw an innumerable amount of Caribbean Giant Anemones (Condylactis gigantea) and Sun Anemones (Stichodactyla helianthus), and even one Corkscrew Anemone (Bartholomea annulatus). I did not, however, see any zoanthids or corallimorphs today.

Condylactis gigantea, Giant Caribbean Anemone
Bartholomea annulatus, Corkscrew Anemone
Stichodactyla helianthus, Sun Anemone

On our snorkel, we collected lots of different organisms, including a tiny baby octopus that our group nicknamed Squishy. We enjoyed playing with it for a few hours as we identified all the organisms we collected. Unfortunately, we had also found that a tiny hermit crab we found living with a piece of trash yesterday, aptly named Trash Crab, had died today, so we plan to give it a funeral at sea tomorrow.

After sorting through our organisms and eating, we wrote up the data for our marine debris collection from yesterday, before taking a quick snorkel in the patch reef near the Middle Caye dock. I saw one Sun Anemone here, but no more of my taxon group. After snorkeling, we had a delicious dinner followed up with another night of free time. It is hard to believe we are leaving in two days, but I will just have to soak up tomorrow as much as possible.