NEAQ MBIT

·       For the last six weeks, I have been participating in an exciting class at the New England Aquarium. The class, Marine Biologist In Training (MBIT), takes place every Saturday for six hours. Yesterday was my last class, and although I was sad the class was over, I learned so much in such a short time! There were about 20 kids, and three great and informative instructors.

·        

·       The first big question was: what is a fish?

·       "A fish is a limbless, cold-blooded, vertebrate animal with gills and fins that lives wholly in water."

·       Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, the mud skipper can hop in and out of the water if they are being chased.

·       There are 32,000 species of fish (that we know of)! 47% of fish live in freshwater and 52% live in salt water. For those of you who did the math and figured out that 47% and 52% only add up 99%, the other 1% of fish are anadromous, meaning that born in freshwater, spend

·      

·       most of their life in the salty sea, and come back to freshwater ponds to spawn like herring or salmon. Here are a few of the best fun facts I learned:

·        

·       Did you know that tuna are cold-blooded and live in cold environments, but can move their eyes and watch out for predators and prey because their eyes are warm-blooded?

·       There are three different kinds of camouflage:

·       Cryptic camouflage, where the fish blend in with their surroundings, either dynamically or they are just naturally that color.

·       Disruptive camouflage, where the fish is striped. This can be confusing to any predatory fish, because most have terrible eyesight.

·       Counter shading, where a fish is blue on the top and white on the bottom. The blue top looks like the ocean from any birds above, and the white underneath would look like sky to any fish hunting from below.

·       During the first class, we talked about what defines a fish, and the importance of fish.

·       In the next class, we talked about fish anatomy and conducted dissections of dogfish, sting rays, and a flounder! We were able to open up the stomach of one of the dogfish and we found a few small squid in her stomach.

·       The week after, we talked about fish habitats and took a behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium! We saw where the sick fish are kept (the ill ones as well as the really cool 'sick' fish) and where the extra, too young, or stressed fish live. We also started talking about herring and the Weymouth Herring Run. We talked about how different stakeholders effect and are effected by herring, and how the Herring population are being depleted and why, as well as what the stakeholders can prevent it.

·       The next week, I unfortunately had to miss, but the class went on a field trip to the Weymouth Herring run. Cool, right?

·       The second to last class was more of the same, exploring the aquarium and talking about the Herring in preparation for our debate the next week. The coolest thing we learned was how some of the fish in the Giant Ocean Tank are fed, and what they eat. Then, we got to feed them - how awesome is that!

·        

·       Finally, we reached the day of our debate. We each argued for what we thought the best solution to the depletion of herring would be, where the money would come from, and how we would go about solving it. In the end, we decided that priority one was to educate the public of Weymouth on the issue and that priority two would be to take out all the invasive species in the ponds where herring come to spawn.

·        

·       We ended the class with an aquarium-wide scavenger hunt (which my team won)! We had to scour the aquarium for names of venomous fish (like a lion fish), depressiforms (like sting rays or flounder), compressiform fish (like an angelfish), fish with superior mouths (like a banded archer fish, hatchetfish), interior mouths (like a catfish) and fish with barbels (beard-like things, goatfish or catfish have them).

·       For the last hour, we had a little party with pictures, music, and certificates. I am now a fish expert - feel free to comment any fish questions you may have! To check out the NEAQ website and any other exciting programs they have going on, click here. All in all, it was a inspiring and interesting experience and time well spent!

A Week in Grand Cayman, Part two

Hello,

Remember that trip to Grand Cayman I went on? Well, here's part two of my adventure!

One day, we rented a boat to take us to all the good sites. We went to Sting Ray City, Starfish Point, and the Mangrove Forest!

At Starfish Point, we were able to find some starfish and look at them up close! Starfish have a super cool anatomy. When they get scared or freaked out, their exoskeleton hardens like a rock, and when the relax, their exoskeleton relaxes too and they soften a little. Then their tube feet start exploring and suctioning onto their surroundings! Once they have suctioned themselves onto your hand (this happened to me) you can't pull them off. You just have to tap on the top of their body, and they'll stiffen up and let go of you! The only downside to starfish is that they are not very interactive, and they are about as slow as a snail.
The next stop was the Mangrove Forest! There are three different types of mangrove plants, red, white and black mangroves. In Grand Cayman help to protect the island from weather, and so they are valued and protected. FUN FACT: Mangroves get a lot more salt then they need living in the ocean, and each kind of mangrove deals with the excess salt differently. Red mangroves has a sacrificial leaf to which all the extra salt is sent until it dies and falls off. Then the plant chooses a new leaf and the process starts all over again! White and black mangroves excrete the salt through hundreds of tiny pores on their leaves. Cool, right?

Our last stop was by far the best. Sting Ray City. As we slowed to a stop slightly outside the gathering of other boats, I could see tons of dark, round shapes moving under the water. We were told to get out of the boat, but not to wear flippers. In the shallow water, we watched in awe as a sting ray swam right over to the guide, and lifted the tip of its body out of the water. The guide was on his knees in the water, and at eye level with the ray. The tip of the ray came peeking out of the water again, and it stayed there until the guide kissed her on the nose. While holding the ray, the guide told us that her name was Sofie, and that she was his favorite. We learned that she was pregnant, and that she LOVED squid. A Sting ray's mouth is located on the underside of it's body, and they eat like vacuum cleaners - just sucking up whatever is underneath them! Sting rays also have a symbiotic relationship with a fish called the Bar Jack. The Jack receives all the food the sting rays don't want, and in return, they act as a "rearview mirror" for the rays. The Rays aren't really able to see behind them, but if they sense that their partner is scared or fleeing, they will do the same. I got to hold her, pet her, kiss her and feed her. Wow - it was such a wonderful experience! Since Sting Ray City is such a popular tourist attraction, it is estimated that each ray is worth half a million dollars of income to the island per year! After many final goodbye kisses, we got back on the boat. Although we were sad to leave, the smiles on our faces were quite a bit bigger (and our faces were significantly more sunburned) then when we had left the hotel.

It is hard to put into words how wonderful this trip was. A great mix of fun, exciting and educational!
Sofie - I hope to be able to come out to see you again soon!

A Week In Grand Cayman

Hey guys,

Me, snorkeling

Keep your friends close, anemones closer. Get it?

SQUID!

I just came back from spending five days snorkeling in Grand Cayman, and let me tell you - it was so wonderful to get out of freezing cold Boston and into the hot sun! I thought I would share with you some pictures of the fish I saw and a little bit about the trip.

On Monday, we arrived in the afternoon and went for a quick snorkel to check that all our gear fit and was working properly. We didn't see that many cool fish during this particular swim, although we did see a grouper and a puffer fish as well as many smaller fish. That evening we went on a night dive. It was really different and super cool. We saw six or seven Caribbean lobsters, two spotted moray eels, a multitude of sea anemones and sea urchins, a very friendly squid, two green sea turtles and an eagle ray. Since it was nighttime, we were able to see some really awesome bio-luminescence created by plankton-like creatures. These tiny animals light up like a firefly to scare, confuse, or distract predators, as well as attract and call out to friends.

On Tuesday, we put on our flippers, grabbed our cameras, and swam out to a reef. Wow! The coral was so pretty and bright and the fish were amazing! I kept trying to get a picture of one really pretty rainbow fish. I chased him for five minutes because I couldn't figure out what kind of fish it was, and I wanted to get a picture. Unfortunately, the fish did not want his picture taken and hid inside some coral. Anyway, We saw more caribbean lobsters, a ton of beautiful fish and even another turtle! I was exhausted by the end, but it was worth it!

On Wednesday, we swam out to Governors' Reef - more awesome fish, coral, and the most beautiful colors! Some of the fish we saw included a rainbow fish like the one from Tuesday, a barracuda, a grouper and a school of very curious and friendly purple fish. This was our last snorkel trip, and we wanted to have as much fun as we possibly could!

All in all, the trip was awesome, and I learned a ton!!! Just the kind of warm getaway that I needed, plus - the Marine Biology aspect made it the best possible trip! I cannot wait to go back!