Didi EarthTree, Marine Biology at CMIL, Week 6
Hello, my name is Didi and my internship is at the CMIL Marine Biology lab. I am working with lobsters and microorganisms. This week I worked mostly in the field, collecting eelgrass and watching stingrays.
This week was filled with ZEN samplings. This means, the lab goes to a certain spot along the beach and lays out long 50-meter measuring tapes in a grid formation. From here we can count how much grass is in the area, and collect samples to bring back to the lab. After writing down the data for the measurements of eelgrass, I borrowed a pair of goggles and swam in the eelgrass for a while. Schools of fish swam past me, and I even saw a few stingrays. After this, we drove back to the lab. The final process of this would take hours for one person to do, but with 5 people helping it was quickly done. We had to empty the eelgrass into a strainer, then with our nails scrape all of the micro and macro organisms off of the eelgrass. Microorganisms are things like algae and plants that are in the sample besides eelgrass. One plant in particular looks like a stringy blade of grass. This evolved out of the water millions of years ago, then evolved back into the water. That is why it still uses photosynthesis. I compared it to mammals and how this was like the dolphin of the plant world. The reason being, dolphins started in water, then went to being wolf-like creatures before evolving into the water. This plant is one of the only known organisms that has done this in the ocean besides dolphins and whales.
We then returned to do ZEN work at the same spot where our net had ripped the week before. This time, however we weren’t going to use a net. This spot was pretty much the same as the last, except here when I went diving I saw around 16 stingrays! I also found a purple sand star on the beach. It was still alive, but its stomach had been nibbled at by a seagull presumably.
Karl, Vanessa, and Jessica (left to right)
On the last day in the lab, Venessa took a few of us snorkeling to look for urchins. We drove to a rocky spot and swam along the rocks. There was so much life along the rocks that I had never thought to look for! Red coral was growing at the base of the rocks, and orange fish were swimming in and out of their homes in the rocks. The most beautiful thing we saw though was a blue and orange sea slug. The sad part about the dive though was seeing all of the dead lobsters. After working with them for so long, and seeing how intelligent they are we saw 7 dead ones at the bottom of the rocks.
The last day was difficult because we had to say goodbye to everyone that we had come to know over the six weeks. I am so grateful for being a part of the Hovel team, and for such amazing people teaching me things about science and life. This experience and people have changed how I see the world and made me a better person. Big thanks to Sarah Holbrooke and the Pinhead team for making this dream a reality!
During our free time, Lulu and my aunt and uncle went to a baseball game! We saw the Rockies and Padres play. We also went to an arcade in the San Diego Belmont Park. We went to the arcade and played a lot of games, including basketball and bowling. after this, we went to the beach and took pictures with the boa seaweed.
This weekend, I am driving back home with my dad to Telluride! Right now we are listening to a podcast and eating a huge bag of M&M’s 
The entire lab
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