Tag Archives: hermit crab shell swap

2022

De-bris-ing Glovers (Day 6)

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Hi all, it’s Faith with Day 6 updates from the 2022 Belize trip!!!

We woke up to gloomy, grey skies with fierce winds, but that did not stop us from conquering the fore reef! Diving the fore reef was incredibly unique, it was unlike any of the shallow patch reefs we usually see. The water was a dark, royal blue, similar to the color of pen ink, and the waves were intense. Usually, the reefs are only a few feet below us, but the fore reef was around 40-50 ft below. Because of the depth, there was no color discrimination unless you swam really close to the reef. I saw lots of new sponge types, but the most interesting was the Giant Barrel Sponge. I saw it close to the “deep drop” towards the edge of the reef; it was on the much deeper side. Because the reef was so far below us, I didn’t see any echinoderms; however, I saw a sea turtle! It was too far away to identify, but from the shape of its bill and fins, I believe it was a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). It lacked the hawksbill pattern. The turtle was chilling under/ next to some coral, and it didn’t move even as we all approached it. I assume he was in the area because of the jellyfish swarm above us. Because the waves were so rough, we only stayed out four 20 minutes, and we swam through the jellyfish on our way back to the boat.

When we got back to glovers, I got to see some brown anoles (A. sangrei) because Dr. Correa’s son was catching them and letting us hold them. You can tell they are brown anoles because they are brown and have bright orange dewlaps (throat fans) that lack dots. I don’t know where he was catching them, but I assume they were crawling around the station.

After our much needed break, we made a research question to answer. We asked “How much of the trash that washes up on Glover’s reef can be disposed of on island, where is it located, and which area is the most efficient to clean?”

Our “trash” hypothesis was that the most debris would be located at the coral graveyard and that 50% would need to be taken off-island to dispose of. Our hypothesis really was trash because WE WERE COMPLETELY INCORRECT!!! After garbage collection and sorting, we found that 88% of trash could be disposed of on-island via burning, and we found that the mangroves behind the kitchen collect the most garbage by mass. Therefore, if we are going to do more beach cleanups at glovers, we should have volunteers focus on the areas near those mangroves.

While we were collecting the trash, Nate made an interesting find– an almost intact cow fish skeleton?!  I got to carry it back because everyone else thought it was gross. I mean, it is, but that wasn’t going to stop me! (Pictured below)

After listening to talks of Annelids, hydroids, ocean debris, and anemones, our group got to watch a hermit crab change shells! (Nate also found the shell while gathering trash, and he kindly gave it to the hermit crab). We all got very emotional, and it was the perfect way to end this reef day.

Till Tomorrow! P.s. I’m not sure why this blog didn’t get published on the day I wrote it, but it’s up now that we have better wifi, sorry!!!

QOTD: “I can’t explain it but our group gets really emotional over hermit crabs”

“Ugh, I lost my brainblast”

The Turtle we saw on the reef; as you can see, it is very far away. Potentially a Caretta caretta (Loggerhead)
The land hermit crab we saw change shells. The shell it is wearing is the one that Nate picked out!
The Cowfish skeleton Nate found!
Our Poster!!!
The 64kg of trash we collected from 3 different sites on Middle Key
2022

Mondays are trash

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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 skeleton
trash 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 reef
Sophia diving
2022

Dramamine For The Win

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Reef day #5 was definitely the most packed (and exhausting) day yet! There was a storm last night, so there was leftover cloudiness and winds this morning. However, conditions still looked good enough to go out onto the fore reef! I took dramamine at breakfast, and thank goodness I did. We hopped on the boat, and as soon as we exited the lagoon through a channel, we could feel the intensity of the waves. Even in the water, we were being forcefully sloshed around. Looking up, people were at all different heights among the waves.

Even with the rough conditions, I had a great time on the reef slope! The depth was incredible, especially at the drop off. I saw so many schools of fish, and I could clearly see the spur and groove structure of the corals down below! We also took a video of all of us diving down and making owl hands. Hopefully we make Rice’s Instagram 🙂

I felt a little sick coming off the boat, but the dramamine helped to keep the nausea at bay.

Later in the day, we conducted a trash clean-up (as an experiment in true TFB fashion). We collected so much trash and sorted it into burnables and non-burnables. Our experiment hoped to characterize the trash at different sites along the shore of Middle Caye as well as the general efficiency of collection at each site. We spent the entire afternoon planning out our experiment, conducting our experiment, measuring and sorting to collect data, and then making a poster and presenting it. We are hopeful that this data will help to inform future trash clean-up efforts! I also managed to get a really cute, homecoming-style picture of TFBs lined up on the stairs to wash our hands.

I gave my first presentation today! I presented my reef taxa (anemones, corallimorphs, and zoanthids), and I feel like it went really well. Everyone asked really great questions too!

Before dinner, Nate (a fellow TFB) placed a shell in front of a hermit crab for giggles. Not only did we have some giggles, but we also witnessed something incredible: the hermit crab switch shells! I was able to get it on video and am thrilled to have seen something so rare to catch.

I didn’t have any taxa sightings today, but my other sightings and experiences were more than captivating! Ruth also taught us so much about Belize at dinner! Best off-the-cuff topic lecture ever!

The fact that my eye has been twitching since around 2:00 pm is a clear sign that I am more than ready to get some rest. I’m ready to sleep as soundly as I can to appreciate my last full day on the reef tomorrow!

– McKenna