This morning, we all woke up early around 7am to the sound of turkey vultures running around on the roof— which doesn’t sound fun but, it helped us all be on time for breakfast! After breakfast we got our snorkel gear out, suited up and went out in small groups to discover the bay, at Discovery Bay. Many of us got into the water not expecting to see things other than sea grass or coral, and in just minutes we found all sorts of creatures.

Around 5 minutes into our trip Kaitlin, a graduate student on the trip, told us to put out our hands and she put two spectacular organisms in our hands— one of which, you can recall from Finding Nemo, sticking to the surface of the tank, and another some may know from Freddie The Fish (a CD-Rom game from the 90’s). Well, if these clues didn’t help, take a look at these pictures we captured.

Lucas and a starfish.

Sea urchins.

That’s right, we saw Starfish and Sea Urchins. The first picture is of Lucas holding a Starfish (also known as a Cushion Sea Star, scientific name Oreaster reticulatus from the class “Asteroidea” which live in shallow sea grass beds and sand flats), while the second picture is two different species of urchins. The spiked urchin toward the middle of the picture we didn’t touch, while the blob looking, white spiked urchins we held onto for a little. While I held onto this, I felt the tiny little spikes suck into my skin a little almost like velcro. These are called West Indian Sea Egg, scientific name Tripneustes ventricosus. We also saw anemones, sea cucumbers, some students saw a barracuda (yesterday), and all sorts of corals, fish and plants.

We’re all excited to see what the next day brings, as most of us are going to be headed to finish part of our SCUBA certification in the days ahead and go out past the reef barrier.

-Cookie Kelly

Artificial reef- “Dockside” AIR modules with Staghorn coral growth.

During our first day we were able to learn about various research projects and restoration initiatives here at Discovery Bay. Posters are displayed throughout the grounds explaining the details and purpose of work being studied and completed. Learning about the artificial reef design for coral restoration had me so excited to get in the water and check it out!
 
Artificial reefs are used to encourage new growth and allow reef recovery. They are constructed using iron rebar which are placed in shallow waters, where divers then transplant coral fragments with hopes for them to survive and flourish. I was able to identify where in the bay the artificial reefs were located using the research poster and took a swim out to snap some photos!
  
As you can see in the photo, the iron rebar was created to mimic the branching growth patterns of certain coral species. Those who developed this technique call these AIR modules, (Acropora Iron Reef). I was able to identify Staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, growing from the iron reef module. They are easily identified by their antler-like racks of cylindrical branches which are what you can see growing on the modules in the photo! It was found in their research that the modules attracted species like goat, surgeon, parrot, damsel, and trumpet fishes. It was amazing to see these artificial reefs first hand, as the world-wide initiative to use artificial reefs has become a very hot topic.
 
–Marshmallow
[Prof Note: We play a “name game” the first night to help all of us learn each others names — each student picks a food or beverage that starts with the same letter as their name, and we go around trying to remember them. It works really well — but it may produce some not-so-common sign offs on the blog posts.]

Making friends with a sea biscuit. Photo by Gillian.

This morning, my classmates and I woke up at 3am or earlier to catch our 6:30am flight. I should have been tired, but on the plane I just couldn’t sleep. It was a four-hour flight, but it felt like a few minutes. I was running on my excitement the entire day. After a tour and orientation at the facility, I joined Dr. Warren and a group of students. It was my first time snorkeling, and my first time seeing a reef outside an aquarium. We only swam inside the reef to get used to our gear, but it my first brush was breath taking. Since our swim was at 5pm, the visibility wasn’t great, but it was amazing. There’s life in every corner; the more closely you look the more you see.

Some things I learned about snorkeling: One. No one looks dignified in snorkel gear and it’s a great equalizer. Two. You will get very, very familiar with the taste of salt water. Three. You will never want to get out of the water.

That night, my classmates and I crashed once our heads hit our pillows. And I couldn’t wait for the next day.

-Alyssa

The Caribbean water is a lovely shade of blue.

Hello Friends and Families,

Welcome to the 2019 edition of MAR 388 Tropical Marine Ecology course. We have left NY to spend two weeks in Jamaica at the Discovery Bay Marine Lab. We arrived this afternoon (with one more student coming in this evening), so we’re ready for our lab orientation and also dinner! (and maybe even getting in our first snorkel before dinner).

Waiting for our vans at the airport.

Check back here regularly as well have 3-5 posts per day from the students.

Profs. Warren and Peterson

If you want to learn more about the course, please attend one of our informational meetings. They are occurring:

Oct 10th (Wed), 5pm, Endeavor 113, Stony Brook Main Campus

Oct 11th (Thu, 530pm, Marine Station 215, Southampton Campus

If you are unable to make either meeting, please contact bradley.peterson@stonybrook.edu for more information.

We’ve selected the dates for this winter’s offering of MAR 388 / 537 Tropical Marine Ecology. We will be traveling to the Discovery Bay Marine Lab from January 6 – 18, 2019. There will be several informational meetings at both the Southampton and Stony Brook campuses, but anyone wanting more information or to be added to the 2019 class interest email list, please contact bradley.peterson@stonybrook.edu

Students explore the reef at Rio Bueno during the 2017 course.

Hope to see you in Jamaica with us in January!
Profs. Warren and Peterson

Yet again, another year of MAR 388 has come to an end. Like previous classes, there were sunburns, sightings of amazing underwater creatures, stress over the exam(s), and a lot of fun for both the students and the instructors. Changing the course this year from the Caribbean to the tropical waters of a remote island in Fiji was a really extraordinary experience for all of us. And Brad and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the students (and their parents and family) for allowing us to travel with this group to one of the most unique places we’ve ever been to.

As we left the resort, we were given traditional flower garlands as well as powder on our cheeks (thus we look slightly different in our group photo as we depart than when we landed in Nadi).

The group is definitely more tan (and knowledgeable about coral reef ecosystems) than when we arrived two weeks ago!

The flight back to Nadi was picturesque and we had several hours to explore the crafts markets, produce and fish markets, and buy some souveniers. A long flight back to LA, then a not-quite-as-long flight to NY. The freezing temperatures were a shock to our bodies, but the memories of the class will do a good job of keeping us warm (mentally at least).

Hopefully, we’ll be back to Fiji sooner rather than later!
Profs. Peterson and Warren

All good things must come to an end and this “Winter” class was definitely a good, life changing “thing” for our class. With our final days in tropical paradise the cramming has begun; finishing our identification project, studying for our ID quiz and our final has begin to make our stress levels rise. Many of have taken our final day for diving off in order to finish and study just as a precaution.

Getting our studying done to prepare for tomorrow.

Tomorrow (January 18th Fiji time) we will be taking our final exam and our identification quizzes both in water and out of water.

Some identification books we have been using to study.

Wish us all luck with our final days here and our lengthy venture back to the states where winter is actually cold.

– Tess

The last couple days have been one big storm. It has been day after day of clouds, rain, and wetness. Miraculously, Fiji has blessed us with sunshine during our last days here on the resort.

Erin and Ashley laying in the sun during a study break.

With the sun returned we can all enjoy the beauty of Fiji for a few more moments while we study for our exam. Having the sun again is the perfect way to end our time here in Fiji. We are all soaking in our last bit of sun before return to snow struck New York.

– Flynn

On today’s dives I saw many cool organisms but one that stood out to me was this really big sea cucumber. Everyone swam past it but I stopped and picked it up. It was as long as my arm, the biggest I’ve seen while on this trip. Upon picking it up, I noticed that on its underside there were some shrimp latched on to it so seeing that was cool as well. It was a really unique experience because I rarely ever see sea cucumbers. I also saw some sea stars which was really cool. My favorite are the cushion stars but I’ve seen many different types on this trip and always want to pick them up.

Me holding a sea cucumber.

Me holding a cushion star. Photo by Joe.