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.

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·       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

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·       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:

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·       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!

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·       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.

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·       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!

Flash Back Friday: Baja

Hey!

Today I'm doing a flashback post! Around this time of year, three years ago, I was lucky enough to be invited to Laguna San Ignacio, a protected lagoon in Baja California Sur. For five days, I spent a few hours each day petting and kissing Grey whales. these beautiful creatures have finished their 6,000 mile journey from their feeding grounds in Alaska to the lagoons in Mexico, they have give birth and are preparing for the long trip back to Alaska. In March and April, the mothers are teaching their children all the things they will need to know for the trip back. This includes teaching spy-hopping, breaching, spouting, fluking, bubble blasting (my personal favorite), and showing the baby whales how to interact with humans - the babies can't be shy!
I also spent some time learning about other wildlife such as birds, tide pool creatures and the mangrove plants.  One day we took a trip through the mangroves to a small island. This wasn't just any island though. Fifteen years ago, this island was to be the downfall of the sea life in the laguna, because Mitsubishi had plans to build a salt mine on the island. However, the sea life weren't able to cope with the extreme changes in salinity. The NRDC (Natural Resources Defense council) wanted to help the whales and other wildlife, and so they started their campaign against the salt works. After a lot of hard work and fighting, the war for the whales was over. NRDC had saved the day! Today, three different sanctuary's have been put into place around the wildlife in  Laguna San Ignacio. One for the whales,one for the birds, and one for the mangroves.
I really enjoyed this trip, and I believe that it was one of the most important factors in my interest in marine biology.
Whales - good luck to you on your trip back to Alaska! I hope to see you in 2016!

Fluking

Breaching

Bubble Blasting

Spy-Hopping

Spouting

If you want to check out what NRDC
has to say about it, click on this link.

Human Impacts: Part 3. Climate Change

Hey everyone! Today we have the last post in our Human Impacts on Fish trilogy - Climate change.
There are so many things you can do to improve climate change, like walking or biking instead of driving, eating more organic and local foods, being energy efficient and much more! Please enjoy todays post, and then go out and use your knowledge to make the world better, even if it's only a small improvement.

Lastly, climate change is a very negative factor not only for humans but for fish as well. Climate change has four main impacts on fish. (www.edf.org) First, many species depend on temperatures as a cue for reproduction. If these temperatures change as drastically as they are predicted to, the breeding patterns of these species may be disrupted. For example, atlantic salmon and steelhead trout need sanctuary and protection and not extreme temperature changes in order to survive. Secondly, sudden warm temperatures are a source for coral bleaching. Coral may not be a fish, but it definitely affects sea life. As the coral whitens, shrinks, starves, and dies because of the warmth, the fish who were supported by these coral reefs are likely to migrate or die from the loss of their habitat. The third climate impact is ocean acidification. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution in 1790, the ocean has absorbed 30%, around 150 billion tons, of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by people. Acidification is causing a significant drop in the oceans pH, and although for many years the water diluted the effect of our extreme overuse of carbon, the oceans are beginning to show the impact. The last factor of climate change is positive feedback loops. These loops are made when something created from global warming then makes the warming worse, hence making the impact more significant, and the cycle goes around again. Ice caps in the arctic are the best example of this. The white ice once reflected the heat reaching earth, and now that the heat is increasing, the ice is melting, making the earth even warmer, even faster. This loop can go on forever, getting even worse each time. Almost all climate change is a result of every single human on earth overusing carbon. I do it, you do it, everyone on this earth has in some way impacted marine life through climate change, and there are so many things that people like me can do to stop it.

I love reading articles relating to whales, fish and other undersea issues. In November, I started a blog to help me document my journey in marine science, as well as to share with others how we impact and can protect underwater ecosystems. In Baja, I met naturalists who are dedicated to learning more about environments and ecosystems of certain ocean life, and I also met some environmental lawyers who became role models for me, taking action for what they believed in, and saving and protecting endangered animals.

Last year, my class at school was lucky enough to be able to headstart two blandings turtles, and it was the first time I could take all that I had learned about marine biology and put it to good use. It was my turn to learn more about the ecosystems of turtles, and then take action to teach others and help to save an endangered species that I really cared about. I researched the turtles, and shared what I had learned with my class. I made a presentation about the turtles, including how big they are, how old they live to be, why they are endangered, and how we can help them. I cleaned their tank during my study halls, and spent many recesses feeding them. I grew very close to them, and setting them free at the end of year was a sad moment, but more importantly, a happy moment, because I knew that I had done my part to help the blandings turtle population - I had saved two turtles from the high possibility of an early death. This year we have two new turtles, and as my passion for marine biology grows, I really enjoy the moments I can spend learning more about this endangered species, as well as helping to protect and preserve them.

I have learned a lot about whales and turtles, but I look forward to being able to learn about other fish and how they are endangered and how to save them. Our earth is the only planet that houses life and in order to keep species from going extinct, we all have to care about the welfare of sea life. I hope to help these undersea creatures by learning about their plight and doing what I can do to save them. I want my actions to have a positive effect on the ecosystem humans and fish share, and I think that participating in the MBIT program will help me to achieve that.

Human Impacts: Part 2. Pollution

Happy Valentines Day everyone! This is part two of our trilogy of human impact on fish. A whole lot on pollution! Todays post is fairly short, but pollution is a big problem! Remember, you can help! Recycle, compost, make sure all of your garbage gets used as many times as possible before it goes to a landfill - all your extra pink paper hearts can be recycled, or better yet, save them for next year!

Another negative impact on the environments in which fish live is pollution. Did you know that each year about fourteen billion pounds of trash are deposited into the ocean? You may think that this isn’t your fault, but every single person, including me, who has ever put something into a trash can contributes to this pollution. Even if you don’t mean for it to, your garbage is probably floating in the middle of the ocean right now, along side mine. The creatures amidst all this pollution are dying from choking, internal blockage, and injuries sustained from plastic, fishing wire, and other kinds of litter, as well as oil and other toxins. Pollution in our oceans mainly consists of plastic, pesticides and herbicides, oil, sewage, and other garbage. This fall, I read an article in the Boston Globe entitled ‘Chasing Bayla,’ about one scientist’s dedication to save a right whale who had been entangled in polypropylene rope. Bayla was cut and injured, yet she still worked against the scientists’ tireless efforts to save her. Reading this, I was thinking to myself, ‘What would I do if I saw a whale entangled in rope? How could I help it?’ This article was very sad and forced me to think about the reality of pollution, and what I could do to help.

There is also noise pollution from things like SONAR affecting the undersea ecosystem. SONAR is a great resource for scientists, but is also very harmful to animals. The same scientists’ from the NRDC who traveled to Baja with me are now fighting against SONAR and other noise pollutants. They are currently working on a video documentary about the SONAR’s effects on whales to help raise the public awareness of this problem. I am so thankful I got to learn about the fight for these whales because it made me want to help too.

Human Impacts: Part 1. Overfishing

Hi guys! Today's post is going to be part of a trilogy of posts on the negative human impact on fish. This post focuses on the effects of overfishing. Enjoy!

Oceans occupy 71 percent of the Earth's surface. Deep in these blue waters, live a large variety of fish, both big and small, some of which haven’t even been discovered yet. The species that have been discovered, however, are not only under constant threat from bigger fish, but they are threatened by all humans, including me, and our actions. Fish are a part of our ecosystem, and although many scientists are trying to help the fish living in our oceans, my actions as well as other’s have an effect on these fish, both positive and negative.

All my life I have loved the water and, more recently, as a result of many of my experiences, ocean life has become a growing passion. Since I was very young, I have enjoyed collecting seashells and bringing them home with me to remind me of the water.  I spend part of my summers sailing in Cape Cod, and I love swimming in the ocean in the Northeast, as well as in California and Florida. Last year while traveling to Costa Rica, my family and I took a boat to Isla Tortuga to go snorkeling. This was the first time I was able to look underwater at a fish habitat, and I was fascinated by the bright colors and sounds of the fish, and I knew I wanted to learn even more about natural underwater environments and how to sustain them. This summer I am planning to spend two weeks studying at the Acadia Institute of Oceanography, which I hope will help me to learn even more about marine biology.

In 2012, I was fortunate enough to go to Baja California Sur with some environmentalists from the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council). In 2000 they worked against Mitsubishi, a company that wanted to build a salt mine in a lagoon that grey whales are known to migrate to in the spring. Instead of allowing Mitsubishi to build the salt mine, the NRDC convinced the government of Mexico to protect this area where grey whales can continue to raise their calves year after year. On this trip I spent time on the water interacting with the whales as well as exploring mangrove and tidepool environments. Connecting with the whales was definitely one of the best parts of the trip. The overall experience, however, inspired me to learn more about whales, and marine science in general. I was able to go back to Laguna San Ignacio again last year, and I was even more convinced that something had to be done to save these beautiful creatures for future generations. Despite the fact that the lagoon was saved, there is still a lot that needs to be done to keep the grey whales and other animals from endangerment. This includes preventing climate change and pollution and also the depletion of fish in the oceans.

Overfishing is making a big impact on sea life, and anyone who eats fish is a part of the problem - even if they don’t know it. Oceans are being drained of fish all around the world, because the rate at which fish are being taken out of their habitat is unsustainable. As there is demand for fish on the table, fishing has become very popular. “One in every five people depend on fish as their primary source of protein” (saveourseas.com).  I really enjoy eating fish, but we need to let them replenish, so I try to space out my seafood meals. This summer, when I was in Norway, I saw how people who lived in coastal villages had figured out how to use sustainable fish farming to prevent the reduction of wild fish. Recently, scientists have begun to notice a major decrease in fish, and laws have been passed regulating areas, amounts, and types of fishing in an attempt to bring back these precious undersea populations. There are many coastal populations where fishing is a source of income, and when these laws are put into place, fishermen are forced to fish deeper into the sea for fish that are farther down on the food chain. This upsets the balance of underwater food chains. When I was in Mexico, I met a fisherwoman who spends three or four days at a time far out on the ocean in a panga boat, waiting to catch enough fish to pay her bills. She used to be able to catch enough fish in a day closer to shore, but now she is forced to spend nights in the middle of the ocean to catch these fish in order to support her family.

Check back next week for a whole lot on Pollution!