Even on rainy days, it's still  paradise.

Well, for most of us it is day two in paradise. I was one of the lucky few who were able to fly out during the storm and make it to Jamaica on Wednesday, and now that the rest of the class is here, any jitters have faded for most of us. The class is small, and we mesh well, as we found out last night we are all either biology, marine science, or environmental studies majors, so we all have something in common. Our collection tank is becoming quite full. We have a lot of invertebrates like queen conch and sea cucumbers, as well as about half a dozen fish (mostly dusty damsels). 

Here are a few specimens that we caught during our night snorkel.

Last night’s late night collection proved to be a huge success, I caught an octopus that was out foraging in a broken conch shell. As soon as I saw it, it turned its chromatophores bright red. While it was under observation, (by which I mean while I was waiting for three hours to come out of the shell it was hiding in) it had turned a magnificent blue. Of course, its will-power won over my need to sleep and I had to release it before it came out. Octopi are extremely smart and because of this, if it was left in the wetlab, it would have escaped and its fate would have been unknown.

The blue thing with the dark spot in the middle is the eye of the octopus.

Today was our second collection, and my partner Jake and I went out for about an hour snorkeling in the rain. (Yes it does rain in paradise, but it’s a lot better than the white stuff.) We tried to get a lizard fish and a balloon fish, but ended up with some more damsels, two anemones, and lots and lots of plants (they are slightly easier to catch as they lack the ability to run away.) On a side note, there are also a few kittens that live around the compound, and as I type this blog, one of them has made its way into our room and is begging for attention. The only down side of all of this fun, is that every day we grow and learn, brings us another day closer to the end of the course. But until the last day, this truly is a great experience.

This is our collection tank.

-Matthew J.