Coral reefs and the tropical ecosystems that surround them are full of life no matter what time of day it is. Though the daytime activities of all the critters get most of the credit, some of the most fascinating activities can be observed at night! This is one of the things that I looked forward to seeing the most before I even stepped foot in Jamaica. Last night, I finally got a small taste of this fantastic nocturnal world!

The first nocturnal animal we encountered was not even from Discovery Bay but from the trees surrounding the marine lab…bats! Some fellow students were exploring right after dark and came across their dark shapes swooping from tree to tree. The area of Discovery Bay Marine Lab is considered a sanctuary to all types of animals, including these incredible bats. As unbelievable as the sight was, there was a price that came in the form of guano being dropped on my hand.

As the light shone on them, the bats, likely Pteronotus quadridens (sooty mustached) or Myotis yumnaensis (yuma motis) [ed note: species IDs based on Prof. Warren’s acoustic recordings of them] became more visible and active, allowing us to observe their darting movements (the gray blurs).

That same night, we walked down to the dock to observe the nocturnal marine life. We shined our dive lights into the water but could only spot some small fish. It was extremely windy and made spotting anything below the surface nearly impossible. We were just about to head inside when a bright red crab walked across the slipway! After identifying it, we found the name to be Grapsus grapsus, or sally lightfoot crab.

Here is when the crab crawled across the slipway and eventually climbed up the rocks of the cove to be with the other crabs.

I can’t wait to see even more on our night snorkeling trips!

-Avocado Ariana