Chachahuate

Around 2 pm I took a much needed break from work and journeyed to one of the neighboring islands, Chachahuate. The island was lovely, and the breeze on the north side even more so. Natives immediately welcomed us and broke out all of the hand made items they had for sale. The children were very eager to sell their jewelry as well. Overall, it was a nice voyage and well worth the ten minute boat ride over.

Time is Almost Up!

I spent a great deal of today looking over all the videos that I have taken of the anemones. I have developed a pretty close relationship with Excel and am finding it has become more useful as time goes on. I still have one more day of videos to analyze which shouldn't take much more than two hours. It's a very tedious process as I have been recording my observations by the minute. Tomorrow I will take my final set of measurements and record the distance from the shore to each anemone. The flags will come in and I will be done collecting data from the field. This class has flown by, I can't believe its almost over. Thankfully, we have a week after we leave Honduras to finish our projects and portfolios. It will be a busy week! I'm not looking forward to the two hour boat ride back to La Ceiba nor the three hour bus ride to San Pedro Sula. Hopefully the seas will be much more calm this time since we are departing in the morning rather than early afternoon.

Break Time! Featuring Kona the guard dog!

Flying Gurnard

Condylactis Clinger

I'm currently working on a project on the symbiotic relationship between the banded clinging crab and the giant anemone. I've been studying the crabs behavior and the way in which it uses the anemone for protection. Unfortunately, I can't hold my breath long enough to take down observations while in the field so I have been mounting a go pro camera to the sea floor to take 5 minute sampling videos. When I get back on land I analyze the videos and record observations on an excel sheet. Its a pretty lengthy process, I have ten anemones flagged that I am looking at everyday. Eventually I will do something with the data to support my claim that the banded clinging crab (Minthrax cinctimanus) is more likely to exhibit feeding behaviors and is less likely to be approached by predators if it has adequate coverage by the giant anemone (Condylactis gigantea). 

You have to look pretty closely for the crab, as the red algae growing from the buildup of calcium carbonate on its exoskeleton serves as very good camouflage.
Here are some video links!

https://youtu.be/AlKCyIh8dTM

https://youtu.be/QHuWlV8zHeA

Island Life

Banded Clinging Crab

Banded Clinging Crabs (Mithraculus cinctimanus) don't intentionally prey on anything but algae, particles of organic matter, and mucus ejected with the anemones digested food. Their blunted chela are adapted to to scraping algae and mucus from coral. These crabs are covered in buildups of calcium carbonate and red algae that serve as very good camouflage.

Crab Coition

Interrupted these fellows on the way up to my room last night. 

Arthropod Appeasement

They'll eat just about anything!

Red Rock Crab
Grapsus Grapus

Blue Land Crab
Cardinsoma guanhumi

Snorkeling for Symbiosis

This marks day two of our individual research projects. I set out today with the goal of finding the remaining two Giant Anemones that I will be studying. It only took me a few minutes to locate the area I was working in yesterday. After flagging the remaining two, I started photographing the anemones I will be studying. I was careful to not kick my flippers too close to the anemones to avoid disturbing any organisms residing in them. In addition to taking a few close up shots I took areal shots of the locations where each anemone was found to use as reference when discussing the surrounding coral species. I noticed that many of the anemones I flagged were located under starlet coral with sea fans either nearby or directly on top of the anemone. I became tired after hunting down each flag and photographing all ten and was unable to measure the depth and distance from shore this morning. All ten anemones are flagged in a stretch no more than 25 meters long. Weather permitting, I will head back out into the field this afternoon to take the measurements.

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Watch out!

Got the chance to meet this fellow on the way up to the room last night.

7/7/2015

Moray Eel

After dragging myself out of bed this morning and trekking down to the shore I was pleasantly surprised to see a Chainlink Moray Eel. This specimen was approximately two feet in length and was seen in a five inch crevice between two rocks. Dante, the island chef, claimed that it was his pet that was always present when fish were being cleaned. One time it launched itself onto the ground and attempted to haul a 30+ pound fish back into the water. It was ultimately unsuccessful, but to his surprise managed to move it a few inches closer before receding back into the water.

On a nocturnal note

Around 7 in the evening we set out on our first nighttime snorkeling adventure. We separated into groups with a designated flashlight holder and stayed within the boundaries that we were given. The species activity is completely different at night, I saw quite a few creatures that I haven't even seen during the day. It may have just been that I was trying to pay attention to things around me more closely than I usually would have because it was harder for me to see. The fish that were feeding at the bottom were much less reactant to me swimming up close to them, even with the flashlight on. I was surprised by how close I was able to get to them before they slowly began to move away.

Beaded Sea Cucumber
(Nocturnal species)

Notice feeding tentacles near bottom of photo 

Longspine Squirrelfish

Spotted Scorpionfish

Spotted Scorpionfish

Yellow Stingray

Yellow Stingray feeding near a Starfish.

First Taker!

Sometime last night we had our first shell taker! It left this shell and moved into #39.

Photographed by Olivia Van Housen
(sunriseonplanewings.blogspot.com)

Focal Area & Focal Animal

Today we were to conduct focal area and focal animal sampling. Focal area sampling involves identifying a one meter by one meter square to monitor for a predetermined length of time. It was established that we would spend ten minutes on each sampling technique. In our respective groups we swam out to the reef near the buoy and began the focal area sampling. During this time attention was given to the organisms coming in and of the area. We recorded the species we saw and their behaviors. A photo of the focal area was also taken and is included at the bottom of this post.

For the focal animal sampling we were instructed to watch a single organism and record what it did for ten minutes. We swam under the dock and located a marsh crab. As a group we observed the crab and recorded its movements and behaviors on a shared dive slate. Our group separated our observations by minute to ensure organization during later data transfers.

Focal Area Sampling

Animal Sampling

July 4, 2015

Later in the evening we began working with hermit crabs. We were instructed to separate into three groups with our roommates. Each group was given 50 of the same shells. We were to label each shell with a “T” to indicate our room followed by the shell number 1-50 and 15 at the end to indicate the year. After labeling each of the shells with sharpie we were to put a bit of superglue on the marker to seal it on shell. Then we took four measurements of each shell using calipers. We took the length and width of the shell and the length and width of the aperture. There were four students in our group and we each took one of those measurements for all 50 shells. We worked like machines and finished fairly quickly with a great deal of accuracy. After measuring the shells each group chose a location to place their shells. We placed ours in the sand to the right of the pathway leading to the water from the dining area. Each morning we are to check the shells to see if any have been taken by crabs. If any shells are left we are to take the same shell measurements to determine the approximate size of the creature. 

Fourth of July Eve Sunset

July 3, 2015

Brittle Star on Coral

Yellow Spotted Stingray

French Angelfish

Magnificent Urchin

Redband Parrotfish

Species Identification Activity 7/2/2015

After our hike today we were introduced to underwater photography and were given cameras to take out into the field. Our assignment was to find three species of coral, sponges, and echinoderms and photograph them. Upon returning to land we were to analyze the pictures and identify the species we photographed.

Grooved Brain Coral
(Diploria labyrinthiformis)
~Coral~

Common Sea Fan
(Gorgonia ventalina)
~Coral~

Porous Sea Rods
(Pseudoplexaura porosa)
~Coral~

Giant Barrel Sponge
(Xestospongia muta)
~Sponge~

Sponge Brittle Star on tube extending to the far right
~Echinoderm on Sponge~

Yellow Tube Sponge
(Aplysina fistularis)
~Sponge~

Rock-Boring Urchin
(Echinometra lucunter lucunter)
~Echinoderm~

West Indian Sea Egg
(Tripneustes ventricosus)
~Echinoderm~

Cushion Sea Star
(Oreaster reticulatus)
~Echinoderm~