Love the eel being fed
I’m Jai Sanchez and I’m spending my summer in Santa Barbara California studying marine and coastal life at UCSB/the REEF. (Research Experience & Education Facility) The REEF is part of MSI’s (Marine Science Institute) education and outreach program. The REEF is dedicated to teaching everyone about coastal, and marine life and how to preserve it. Since the REEF is a part of MSI, we also study and conduct research. One of our current research experiments is how heatwaves may affect the red urchin’s development of their gonads, commonly known as uni. Uni is a multi-million-dollar fishing industry in California and is sent all over the world.
Our escaped nudibranch
On Monday, I was introduced to the REEF and most of the people I will be working with for the next few weeks. I was given a tour of the REEF and UCSB’s campus by my mentor, Scott Simon who is the current director of the REEF. We briefly stopped for a lunch break and then proceeded to the aquarist meeting where the aquarists, Scott, and I talked about general changes and what changes the REEF needs to make. Each aquarist has their own special interest they take care of. Marine is our tropical marine life aquarist. She takes care of critters like clownfish, tropical coral, and anything found in warm tropical waters. Currently, our tropical marine tank is under maintenance, so Marine and I spent the rest of our day scuffing (sanding all of the blurry glass) the tank. I was also introduced to our lobster, Boris, who is estimated to be roughly 85-90 years old. Did you know that genetically lobsters are immortal? I also met our eel, Love, who is about 20 years old!
Tuesday through Wednesday evening, I became extremely sick. I was bed ridden and became extremely dehydrated, so I went to urgent care on Tuesday and spent Wednesday resting and recouping.
A close up of an anemone
Thursday, I headed back to the REEF where I held my first program. A group of 40 high schoolers and 15 teachers from across the country spent the day at the REEF for their ecological economy class. The REEF explained to the program how invasive ice plants are which have spread across Santa Barbara. They also engaged the kids as they taught them how to stop the spread and control the population using tarps.
A close up of a barnacle at the REEF
Friday, I spent most of my day in MSI’s “crab lab” where I met our shark aquarist, Fern. I identified different species of sand hopper, algae, and other miscellaneous organisms in our samples. After identifying each organism, we recorded their weights before putting the entire sample into a vile where the data will be stored. Later I went back to the REEF to take pictures and ID critters with one of our aquarists, Sophia, where we learned one of the nudibranchs had escaped their jar. We carefully placed him back into the jar.
Saturday, we hosted an open doors day where anyone could enter the REEF free of charge between the hours of 11-3. Before opening doors another aquarist, Gianna taught me how to properly diaper (use a towel to clean the tank walls) and siphon the tanks. Both members of the community and students can come in to learn more about the local marine ecosystem while getting a hands-on experience through the touch tanks. After open doors we cleaned up the REEF and headed home to enjoy the rest of the weekend.
On Sunday I got to enjoy a bit of the beach, however it was quite foggy, and my host family’s dog rolled in a dead skunk before taking a nibble out of a dead porpoise.
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