Four experiments running at once!

Hey everyone! My bad on it being a few days since an update- thanks for the patience!

Lots happening on the island here! Tim and Flower have taken off for another out-island trip working on the metapopulation study leaving Mark and I here to hold down the fort. Weeks seem to be flying by because everytime I turn around we seem to be working on recruit censuses. Our last day of this week's survey was today and only one coney was missing. We were so close to having a week of 100% stick. I am really excited to have a group of cooperating fish after the way the first few weeks looked.

I have been working lots on my own research projects (yes, notice it's plural). I have been working on an experiment with native predators to see if anything that's already here will eat lionfish and help control the spread of their population. There have been reports that Nassau grouper have been found with them in thier stomachs so I have three set ups with big (50ish cm) Nassau in large above ground tanks. They have been acclimating for a few days and tomorrow will be given their first lionfish. We will just have to see what happens! I also collected a baby nurse shark. Correction... I wrestled a baby nurse shark! It totally deserved a belt buckle! And we are planning to feed him a little lion and see what happens.

My other experiment is a tank experiment in this neon pink building called the Lobster Lab. There I am mirroring the study we're already working on at the trans-reefs but in a laboratory setting. I have three treatments (lionfish alone, coney grouper alone, and lionfish and coney together) and will have seven replicates of each treatment. We are feeding them equal amounts of fish and seeing who is competing with who for these limited resources. We are setting them up block by block as we collect the right sized fish. I think we will have two more blocks get up and running tomorrow so I am excited about that. Please continue to send me Superhero names for my lionfish or mafioso gangster names for the coneys. Creativity has its limits and I would love some fresh ideas from the outside world.

We have also been working on getting a third experiment for me/Mark set up on the artifical reefs. This project always includes hilarious adventures at trying to outsmart fish. We need to capture, tag, and release or move every Nassau grouper on the artificial reefs. The scientific term for this is Nassaaaaaauuuu Wrassslllllin. I'm all for this being a new Olympic sport! We're working out at the reefs made of cinderblocks aligned so the holes run all the way through the block. They are 4 blocks tall and 4 blocks deep and 3 blocks long creating a structure as long as me with 24 little holes for fish to hide in. The game goes something like this... One person sits on one side of the reef with a mesh goody bag over a hole where we see a fish we want to catch. They try to seal the edges of hole with two hands to keep the fish from escaping out sideways. Whenever they give the signal, the person on the other side of the reef grabs these two long PVC pipes "tickle sticks" and jams them into the hole trying to stare the fish out the far side. Seems simple enough except most fish aren't scared of PVC. So it turns into this totally ridiculous scene were you're banging sticks together or wedging an arm or two into this tiny hole. If you're the person with the bag you simply have to hold on! Eventually a VERY upset fish comes flying at high speeds out of the hole gets caught in the bag and tries to keep swimming off away from you. They make this deep thumping noise that you can feel in your chest and invariably try to stab you with their spines once they're all tied up in the bag and confused. It's hard to be upset with them though because Nassau groupers have about the same temperment as a big golden retriever, except more dumb cause they are fish after all. Catching them can be quite the rodeo though and certainly is leaving me with good memories from experimental setup.

Besides the work we have had some time for fun as well. Pat Lyons was a researcher who came to LSI on the same day we did back in June. He was only here for half the summer researching mutualism in shrimp and sand gobies. Besides being a shocking reminder that the summer is nearly half over, it was a bummer to see him go on Sunday morning. However, we certainly did throw him a big going away party on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun hanging out with Pat, Mark, and the interns just being goofy. The main hall/dining room has a disco ball that we found out that night is actually operational and we threw an impromptu dance party after a few drinks were consumed. Pat and Mark are both really talented musicians so we also spent a few hours just singing along and listening to them play. Pat, a great guitarist, after a little coercion was super nice enough to teach me a few chords on his guitar. Now you all know my musical talent is limited so you can imagine how excited I was once I could rock a G, D, and C chord. I was EVEN MORE excited when I realized that I could now play a Johnny Cash song. Be prepared to listen to Folsom Prison Blues if you get anywhere between me and a tuned guitar once I am home. It's the only song I know so I apologize in advance if you have to hear it over and over again. :)

The weather continues to be hot and beautiful. My hair gets whiter everyday and my shorty wetsuit tan gets even more awesome! The island is very pretty and very small. I think it's lucky we are so busy all the time so I haven't really realized how small of a rock I live on. The most beautiful part is the water although every morning I am struck by how gorgeous the sky is. Because there is so little land (and what there is lies so low) the sky looks truly huge. There are always great clouds of pinks, yellows, and orange, and the bottoms turn blue or green with the reflection off the shallow water. Every morning when I see them I am thinking fondly of you all and sending you big hugs and smiles.