After making our way through the tests from last night, everyone quickly got on their way to planning their research projects. Some people spent the morning collecting specimen, such as Upside Down Jellyfish and Sea Urchins, while others snorkeled and took surveys of population and diversity. My partner Ali and I spent the morning creating easy to see buoys out of water bottles, tape, and twine, then sinking them out by the coral ridge. Our personal plan is to study the biodiversity of coral patches, while taking into account their size, distance from the coral ridge, and distance from other coral patches. Everyone was really excited to start work, even if their project ideas are a little hazy. The best perk of the day was all of the free time we each got. Some of us didn’t know how to handle our time, complaining of boredom and wasting the day away with naps. The only thing that could be agreed upon was that being bored is always better than being in hours upon hours of lectures. Those lectures were tiring, but at least we can now understand what we are seeing, as well as what we are researching, when were out in the open blue water. Tomorrow, we are all pumped up to spend the day off campus, climbing waterfalls and seeing the shops. Tonight should be an early night for everyone to rest up for it.

This will be the last picture of us diving as a group for a while, because the majority of our gear is out being used by others. Hopefully, we can all get back in the water soon!

Here’s what make-shift buoys look like: plastic bottles, colorful string, and a WHOLE LOT of tape.

Surprise out on the coral ridge today! First adult peacock flounder I’ve seen with the blue coloring and everything. We got very excited and put off the research for a good five minutes to follow it around.

– Taylor

[Editor's note: posts today will be delayed/sparse as we are all hiking up Dunn's River Waterfall and exploring Ocho Rios today. stay tuned for more posts later tonight / tomorrow.]

After a small wait we are finally scuba diving. It is more beautiful than anything I could have imagined. Swimming over vast landscapes of coral, sponges, and algae is awesome. To see all of the diversity fond in the tropics in such a pristine way is a privilege not granted to many. One day after diving it was so windy out the boat was rocking hard which caused me to be sick. The lectures are finally over and the test was fair. Everyone seems more relaxed now that it is over with. We are all starting our research projects and pressing forward.

Me holding a furry sea cucumber

Salvatore Caldarello

Today, after three days of pool work and open water dives, the six DITs (Divers In Training) finally became certified scuba divers. Not only was getting certified in Jamaica great because of the beautiful reefs were we did our training dives, but in between dives and pool work we get to relax pool side at the resort where we were training. Now that I’m certified, I can’t wait for our Bueno Rio excursion because all the instructors keep talking about how beautiful it is.

After our last dive at the resort while waiting for our instructor to sign out our dive logs.

The view underwater.

But don’t think it’s been all relaxation and sunshine (yes mom, I’ve been wearing a lot of sunscreen). So far we have completed twelve lectures in four day, gone snorkeling or scuba diving at least twice a day, had to memorize about 75 species and been tested on it all. Tomorrow we finally get to start our research projects, so look for more about Upside Down Jellyfish in my future post.

Upside Down Jellyfish

PS: Saw a sea turtle on the second night. Couldn’t be more excited. Check out GraceAnn’s post for a picture taken by my favorite professor (since I know he’ll edit this in himself later anyway). [ed: hah!]

-Julia

With the exam behind us and this beautiful day ahead of us, my classmates and I are excited to begin working on our research endevours. There is a warm breeze and the sun is shining and strong. The bay is as inviting as ever. Emily and I went scnorkeling this morning, and while it did not yeild the expected result, I was delighted to see a plethora of squirrel fish and parrot fish sporting their bright orange, red, and pink colors. Squirrel fish are nocturnal, therefore catching them as the sun came up was a treat.
As expected there have already been hiccups in our procedures, ideas, and methods as we race the clock to find out as much as we can about this tropical marine environment.

With an environment so diverse in fish, plants, and invertebrates, the possibilities are endless but not our time. I seceretly wish that we had an endless amount of it. We could use the time to learn about the entire ecosystem, including the birds and other organisims on land that contribute, because it is all connected. In so little time, we have focused on the big picture, trying to get a taste of what this paradise is all about. My personal goal as a scientist in training is to learn the most about as much as I am able, so that in the future I can help in the efforts to perserve and protect these special habitats both in the coveted carribean, and my own backyard on the north east coast of the United States.

Can you spot the creature in this photo looking for brunch?

– Graceanne

As I write this, our first week is sadly coming to an end. I am amazed at how much I have learned in such a small period of time, although it was a very overwhelming amount of information. Over the past three days we have spent most of our waking moments snorkeling to collect different organisms for our wet lab collections and have attempted to identify over eighty different species present in the Discovery Bay coral reef. Identifying an organism takes some patience and a good eye! It is so interesting to see how one detail or description can separate two species from one another. It has been a fascinating learning experience to see and touch a variety of species that can be found in just a few feet underwater and even just a few inches from the dock. To be able to swim with this fish is such an exhilarating experience. I have seen a Blue Tang (Dory), but I won’t be able to find Nemo, as clownfish are not found here (sad face). But seeing a sea turtle will hopefully make up for that!

I can’t believe it has almost been a week since we arrived at Discovery Bay Marine Lab. Oh how the time flies. The fun continues as we are beginning our research projects, which I am super excited about. I can’t give too much away at this very moment, but stay tuned! Until next time….

A Blue Tang (Acanthurus coeruleus)

Me attempting to catch a fish!

Waving Hello on our collection snorkel.  

-Abby

Going from winter break at home to having to wake up early to start a day full of strenuous diving, snorkeling and lectures that challenge our minds, waking up each morning has not been an easy thing to do. However, it is a whole lot easier when you can look forward to seeing bright colors and interesting creatures as soon as you step off the boat to SCUBA dive. Some of the most interesting finds I have made have been the colored sponges that we saw diving in a location known as The Dairy Bull. The massive size of some of the sponges and bright colors stand out easily from everything else and are incredible to see. Reefs in this area were also much larger and vast than others we have seen so far here and it seems impossible to fulfill my need to explore every inch of these reefs (because it actually is impossible). There is no telling what other interesting creatures could be around the corner waiting for us to stop by for a visit on our future dives, but I know each dive will be bringing new and exciting things.

On the left, a Feather Black Coral sways with the current. On the right, a Pink Vase Sponge shows off its color that stands out from the surrounding corals.

This Yellow Tube Sponge grows straight up toward the light in order to prevent being buried by sediments.

The Loggerhead sponge on the right has a prickly outside to protect it from predators.

-Breeanne

I spent most of today identifying reef fish, coral, and creatures that my group collected or took pictures of in the water for the past few days. Merely looking through the identifying books amazed me because I never really gave the tropical marine atmosphere much thought until now. There are so many hundreds of inhabitants of the ocean that I have yet to encounter and was not aware existed. I was fascinated at the sight of fish such as the Princess Parrotfish, the Foureye Butterfly, and the Blue Tang. Their beautiful colors stood out even in the midst of the bold colored corals that I came across. I have undeniably gained an appreciation for these animals and the other contributors of a healthy marine atmosphere. I am also quite shocked that I learned so much in such a short period of time. Although I am definitely not close to being a professional, I made myself proud when I was able to point out specific things when I was swimming around. It’s an indescribable feeling to be able to swim through a school of Silverside or to touch a Sun Anemone and watch it react. I am looking forward to passing on the knowledge I have gained to someone who wants to share the excitement with me!

The Foureye Butterfly was found swimming around among its other colorful friends by the mangroves.

This Sun Anemone looks fun to play with although anemones are known to have stinging cells. However, upon touching this one, it sucks in and feels sticky.

– Farnaz

Using my left hand to pull on the hose attached to my BCD I began my dive decent. It didn’t take long to realize this must be what superman feels like as I was suspended in the middle of the water column giving the illusion that I was flying. It was surreal. Needless to say diving in Jamaica, I have experienced the best dives yet. Not only have I advanced my skills as a snorkeler and a diver, I have also gotten the privilege to experience the common flora and fauna on the reef, as well as the rarely spotted species. 

On the alternate side of the spectrum, I have also pinned some things that I can improve on. For instance, photographing fish is much like trying to catch a chicken. Not that I have tried to catch a rogue chicken but, judging by the stories I have heard, it is extremely difficult. Each species poses a different challenge, and of course it isn’t just the fish that become a problem. For instance sea feathers disappear, their long hair like appendages shrinking into their hole. Most other tropical fish are quite skittish as most fish are, however the damsel fish pose quite a different difficulty, though comical at the least. Being extremely territorial fish, they are certainly not afraid to show me whose boss. Upset and feeling quit macho, the fish darted out of its home to come towards me, despite my size and ability to harm it. Like an angry chihuahua, the fish darted back and forth, advancing and retreating, trying to intimidate me away from his or her algae farm. Naturally all I wanted was a photograph, and this poor little fish’'s frantic panic of territoriality wasn’'t helping either of us achieve our goal. Needless to say, all of the photos I took were of a fish blur rather than a coherent picture to later id the fish with. Among other creatures we found were a fairly young [ed: sea turtle identity is being withheld until my niece and nephew come up with the correct ID for their Uncle — check the comments section in 3 days for the identity OR try to key it out yourself] sea turtle undisturbed by our cameras during his or her peaceful somber, and a reef octopus that stuck around for a few minutes to see what we were up to. It then followed by avoiding us just for safe measure by retreating beneath a coral.

Sunrise

Mystery Turtle (check comments section in 3 days for ID] [ed: photo taken by GraceAnne's favorite class instructor.]

Octopus [ed: photo also taken by my favorite Professor ever!]

-GraceAnne

[ed: blog post titles are written by the professors when student's forget to give us a title!]

I cannot think about a better way to have spent my birthday than getting up at 7am in the morning to go diving. Scarlet was even more excited that it was my birthday than I think I was. After a sharing the news, Scarlet picked me up and tried to throw me in the water! Today we dove at the Eco Reef. It was very beautiful and the corals were teaming with life and diversity. I was able to observe many things that we have been talking about in class.

I really enjoyed looking at the artificial reefs. These structures were put in place by a company that is mining and shipping Bauxite (material that is used for aluminum) that is located on the other side of the bay. They put them here because of dredging that they had to do in order for their boats to dock. This is an example of local human impacts on a small scale. The dredging destroyed many corals but the artificial reefs were put in place near the marine lab in order to compensate for the destruction. The destruction included things such as physical removal of the corals and increased sedimentation. The complexity (3D dimension) of these artificial structures allowed a diverse coral community to begin to develop here. It created a substrate for corals to sponges to anchor on to and it created place for fish to hide.

In class the other day we learned a lot about ecological relationships. As I was diving I was able to take note of these relationships and find many examples of them. I saw mutualism with the giant sea anemone and fish, predation with the lizardfish and fish pray and parasitism

Mutualism: Above is a picture of a giant sea anemone. These invertebrates have mutualistic relationship with some fish. The anemone has protruding tentacles that have nematocysts on them that sting any predator that tries to eat them. The nematocysts have fiberglass-like needles that will cling to the pray. Fish will often take refuge in these anemones and anything that tries to eat the fish will get stung by the giant sea anemone. This interaction between the fish and the anemone is a mutualistic relationship because both species are benefiting from it. The fish living in the anemone attracts other fish and the anemone will eat these fish. The fish living in the anemone will also defecate into the anemone providing it with a food source. One thing in class that we learned that I thought was interesting was that fishes of the same species as the fish living in the anemone may still get stung by that particular anemone. This is because the fish living in the anemone has developed a tolerance for the stinging and therefore allows it to develop territory.

Predation: Above is also a picture of a Lizardfish. This fish is most commonly found on sandy sea floors. They are very camouflage and will be very still. During dawn and dusk, many fish migrate either to or from the lagoon and mangrove areas. The Lizardfish will dart out to catch it’s pray as it is swims past.

Parasitism: Today Taylor and I saw a dusky damselfish with a Cymothoid isopod stuck to it. This Cymothoid isopod was causing harm to this damselfish as it clung to its side. I would like to do more research on it, but I think that this parasite sucks the damselfish’s blood.

To the far left is my Dive Buddy Taylor! She is the best! She is a dive master and gets me out of trouble if I go a little bit too deep (not that I would ever do that). We are starting to think of some ideas for our research project. So far we know that we want to do something that involves diving and looking at different sized coral patches and the species diversity. We hypothesize that as the patch size increases, the species diversity will increase. In the next few days, we will try to figure out how we can turn our ideas into a project!

– Ali

Today we got a wake-up call for a morning reef dive since the wind is not as strong in the morning (meaning the waves aren’t as strong and the visibility is better). We went to Site M off the coral reef crest at around 40-60 ft. depending on where you went on the crest. I saw 2 lionfish, a spotted moray eel, spiny lobster (in a trap the locals had put out), and plenty of reef fish and corals. The sponges and their morphology is amazing, they’re all so different and beautiful in their own way. To say the least, it was awesome. When we got back we had breakfast waiting for us, French toast, which I put guava jam and mango jam on, both absolutely delicious. Then we had lecture, lunch, lecture, dinner, and our final lecture with some down time in between. My group and I used the time to ID the wet lab species we had collected and also comb through the pictures that had been taken so far. We’ve collected so many species, it’s amazing how many different types of organisms live here. Hopefully I’ll get to see a lot more as well as ace this test, fingers crossed!

Branching Vase Sponge during the morning dive off the reef crest at Site M.

This guy is a Furry Sea Cucumber and he’s fuzzy underwater too, and a bit squishy, he’s pretty awesome.

This fish is a Princess Parrotfish and he seems to be excited to see us, almost as excited as we were to see him.

– Kaitlyn