Didi EarthTree, Marine Biology at CMIL, Week 5
Hello, my name is Didi and my internship is at the CMIL Marine Biology lab. This week I went into the field and learned more about urchins and lobsters habitats.
This week was mostly spent in the field, which is always the most fun. The first sight I went to was unsuccessful. The beach was filled with rocks, which caught on the net and made it rip. All of the fish that we had caught escaped from the net, so we had nothing but the ripped net left to take back. The day was not completely pointless though, because Vanessa, (who is also the kindest person I have ever met), bought us ice cream to make up for our unfortunate day.
The next seining sight was a habitat for an endangered bird. The lagoon that we were seining in was muddy, and as I tried to walk the net alongshore I kept slipping in. The first haul had almost no fish in it, but the second one had over 200 fish! The majority of them were top smelt and had a silverish tint to them. After we caught them, we had to get them in buckets of water as fast as possible to count them. We also found a species of pipefish that we had never seen before. It has a pointy nose and looks sort of like a Minnie swordfish. At the sight we went seining, there were also a lot of crabs, and we caught one that was as big as Karl’s hand!
On Friday, we went to fiesta island to gather data on eelgrass, and collect some to sort through later. After collecting data for an hour or two, I got to go snorkeling! I saw so many schools of fish and even a rare microorganism that Karle found. The spot had so much beautiful eelgrass that looked like it was out of a cartoon, it was so green. After we got back to the lab, Vanessa, Emma, and I dissected and harvested urchins for lobster food. There were about 50 of them, and by the end, we all smelled like rotting urchins.
During my day off I went snorkeling at a very rocky spot with a lot of seaweed and snails. I borrowed someone’s suit and went in the water with a pair of goggles. Looking underwater I saw so many fish! Schools of fish would swim underneath me, and some would hide in the rocks. There were orange fish that were going in and out of the rock hiding spots as you swam by. I also saw a starfish walking by on a rock. The best part though was seeing an octopus. He was hidden in the rocks and had his tentacles covering himself so you could only see his eyes. This was my first time snorkeling, and it was so amazing.
On Saturday my Aunt, uncle, and I went to get ice cream before picking Lulu up. After this, we got burgers before going home and immediately going to sleep after a long day.
Next week, I am going to do some research about how to raise lobster eggs because one of our lobsters is pregnant. If you have had a lobster for more than a day, you are not allowed to release them, so the eggs will most likely die in the improper habitat. The lobsters stay in a larvae state for over a year, so no one has attempted to raise them because it wouldn’t be very lucrative. I will be researching what sort of habitat to build for them, and what to feed them. If I am lucky, about 5 will make it to adulthood from her 1000 eggs.
Next week is my last week at this amazing science site, and I will miss everyone there and the lobsters very much.
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