Up Close and Personal Day 15

It was a unique start to the day this morning having a roommate.  I haven’t had to worry about waking someone else up the 2 weeks I have been here so it’s a bit of a change.  All of us with OSU went to the staff meeting that started at 7:30 to get an inside scoop on what is happening this week.  Afterward, we got some breakfast, packed up our gear, and headed out to Tye’s reefs.  Our mission today was to go back to each of her 6 reefs and clear any basslets on her ledges that may have moved in after our initial removals and to clear any remaining lionfish.  Our first site we visited was a lionfish removal site.  It was my job to first clear any lionfish that remained on the reef and secondly to remove basslets with Tye.  I came upon a lionfish pretty quickly and dispatched of it for my seventh lionfish kill.  As I continued my way around the reef I stopped to take a few photos of a large moray eel that was perched in a hole (pictured here).  Shortly after seeing the moray, I found a second lionfish but was not able to get a clear shot at it.  It’s always best to not shoot if you do not have a clear shot because if you miss or hit it and it gets away, it will most likely never come out when divers are around.  As I made my way around the reef to finish my search, a curious reef shark swam near me (pictured here).  I pulled out my camera to take some awesome photos.  Most likely smelling the lionfish I had killed earlier, it wanted to check me out.  At one point, I picked up my pole spear to ensure that it kept its distance from me because it turned to swim directly at me slowly.  After two passes, it swam off down the reef and out of site.  We saw this same shark before when we killed a lionfish at this reef which must mean it remains in the area most of the time. 

                        

The rest of the day was pretty typical.  We removed basslets at 5 of the 6 total sites and then called it a day. 

A storm was rolling in when we started to head back to CEI so our timing for calling it quits was quite good.  After we cleaned up I headed back to Hallig to shower up before dinner.  I caught up with my roommate Duncan on what he was up to today.  He and a few other researchers went out to catch lemon sharks to photo their heads for some exploratory data.  He and I discussed ways of potentially counting all the Ampullae of Lorenzini on the bottom of the sharks’ heads (picture here from the internet).  These small pores are specialized tissues that allow sharks to sense electrical impulses in the water.  This is very beneficial for sharks to be able to sense their prey from a distance (especially organisms that are nearly dead).  Most sharks are most interested in an easy meal so these tissues are incredibly important to them.  We also discussed his research interests in geckos.  He studied them throughout graduate school and into his academic career.  His studies ultimately led him and his collaborators to mimic the feet of geckos to create an adhesive called Geckskin.  This Velcro like material allows you to hang as much as 700 lbs from a vertical wall.  It can be removed by peeling it off just like a sticker but it does not remove anything from the surface it was attached to.  It was really interesting to get his take on it and see some videos of it in action.  It is currently being commercialized and he has a stake in the company that will sell this product that will certainly have many everyday uses for people.  I think the coolest part of what he told me though was not about the business per say but more about what he wants to do with the money.  As a research scientist, he is more interested in giving back and supporting educational programs, outreach, and further research to spread awareness about the benefits of looking to nature for ideas to better our lives.  I anticipate we will continue to discuss this and much more in the time he will be staying with me.

                        

After dinner, Tye, Alex, Lillian, Steph, and I sat down and had our nightly meeting where we take care of our logs and discuss plans of action for the next day.  It was really nice to listen in on their conversations about their projects for me so that I could get a better grasp on what they will be using me for this summer.  I was also able to get more information out about Erica’s trip here and discuss those plans with them as well.  After a productive meeting, I came back to my room to write the blog and do some more research into accommodations for our trip.  Hopefully I will get to that before I pass out tonight.  Until later.