Squirrel fish out in the mangroves

It is crunch time at Discovery bay Marine Lab for our group. Everyone is studying and working hard on their species identification slides. Yesterday it was nice and sunny and I was able to study and work on that Jamaican tan at the same time. Since we have gotten here a lot has happened. We wake up early every morning to the sound of a bird running around on the roof. We have gone snorkeling many times. I have gone to the mangroves several times and have seen many different fish.

Brooke and Fardina working on the ID power points in the wet lab

I still have not caught a fish, but I have had several matches with the damsel fish have so far it is damsel fish 3 Susan 0. The second day of snorkeling Kyle and I swam out to the turtle grass meadow and Kyle spotted and caught a sea horse. My group has not gone out to the reef crest yet, and I am excited to go during my free time in the next few days.

School master juvenile in the mangroves

In the wet lab it has been difficult to find and take pictures of all the organisms we have collected. Our brittle star continues to hide inside the pipe in our area. Our seahorse is happier now that we put some turtle grass and other algae in the tank. The damsel fish has now claimed our conch shell as its home. Yesterday we all had our meetings with the professors to discuss our ideas for our research projects. Bianca and I will be teaming up and looking at Damsel fish aggression towards its own species and towards two other types of fish. While studying it was hard to talk in the wet lab because of the extremely heavy rain at 3. Today is our exams and most people are anxious and worried about all of the identifications. This morning the divers went out and did their checkout dives and the DITS , divers in training, went and did their open water dive. Hopefully tonight we will be able to relax and enjoy ourselves while writing our research proposal.

Our sea horse (Hippocampus erectus) in the wet lab   

– Susan