Good night everyone!
Today we woke up at 6:00am and got pumped for an early
morning soccer game. We biked our way down to the marina and set up the field with
our helmets. We broke up in to two teams which would later be known as the Helen’s
and the Angelina’s. It was a rough match with minor scrapes but tons of fun. The Helen’s won the match with a last minute goal by Devlin.
Go Hawks!
After soccer, we went to breakfast and enjoyed many bowls of
cereal. With our stomachs full we settled into the Octagon and listened to a
presentation on invasive species, specifically the Lionfish. We learned that
they are venomous but not poisonous. This means that they are safe to eat but
not safe to touch their fin spines. We then traveled to the Wet Lab and got the opportunity to dissect
multiple Lionfish. We learned about their anatomy and physiology, touched their inflated swim bladders, and even got to cut open their stomachs! We found a variety of prey in their tummies, including many small (almost whole!) fish and a handful of crabs. After the dissection, we had a great lunch of eggs, potatoes, pizza,
bacon, and bread. On Sundays, the kitchen staff gets time off so we had a variety of leftovers from the week. Yum!
Mr. Daly explains the evolution of a fish's gape!
Team Gal Scientists show us their first major incision!
After lunch we broke up into the Helen’s and the Angelina’s and
went out to continue a five-year Hawken Queen Conch survey. Eating Queen Conch is a staple in the Bahamian diet and culture and their populations have drastically declined over the years. We reviewed all of our knowledge about conchs that we learned back in Gates Mills, and then hit the vans to visit two sites to survey the conch populations to measure the effects of the Conch fishery here. We formed transect lines
and walked down both Sunrise and Sunset beach (transect lines are a fancy way of combing
the area with a large group of people). Each group did a site and then traded so we could have two sets of data for the same site. We only found three live Conch overall, which was very sad because
most of them are dead. In addition, the ones we found were juveniles.
The Helen's transect line!
However, we did also spot our first octopus of the trip, plus a giant hermit crab and an osprey flying overhead. After that we went back to the marina to get some
snacks and to chum the waters for Bull Sharks/Nurse Sharks using the lionfish carcasses from the morning! We were lucky to attract
multiple sharks, including two big Bull Sharks. Then the group split up and had an hour of free time. Some
went to watch the sunset at Sunset beach and others went back to hang out at
campus.
This Giant Hermit Crab was cool and also a little scary! Check out those claws!
This large female Bull Shark came up to the surface to eat one of our Lionfish...
Don't worry moms and dads, we were watching from the dock!
After dinner we came back to watch a presentation on sea
turtles! We learned how we are going to help the sea turtle research team capture turtles tomorrow and we are very excited about it! We will be helping them remove flipper tags by catching as many as we can in the so-called "Turtle Rodeo." More on that tomorrow night! Tonight we are having our first ETB, or early-to-bed! Many of us are started to tire out so we are going to try and take advantage of some extra sleep. The days here are very long because as Stan puts it, we are not here for very long so we need to "milk the day for everything it's worth!" Many mornings after exercise we can't believe how much we've already accomplished before 8am. It makes a lot of us feel lazy compared to our
lives at home, and we hope to bring some of this energy home with us!
The sunset we watched from Sunset Beach!
Until next time,
Nick & Devlin
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