I'm on a Boat!

Today was boat day. Our first boat trip of the semester! The first of four. I was excited about it, truly. I was a little worried that I might get seasick because of my tendency to get sick just riding in the back of a car. But I didn't take any medicine beforehand. I had taken Dramamine once and that had made me really sick. So I just decided to not take anything before.

We got there at 8 AM. I felt great. I was pumped. By the time we started trawling some nets, I was feeling a little iffy. (That was barely an hour into it.) So by the time we were done trawling, I was white as snow, no color in my face or lips, leaning over the side of the boat looking like a hot mess. I was so sick. Thank God I didn't puke everywhere, but I was done for the day. The rocking side to side was what did me in. I couldn't stop myself from feeling nauseous. I was pretty much on the brink of puking from then on until we stepped off the boat. (That was at 4 PM.) Eight. Hours. Yes, you heard me. Eight long hours of me on the back of the boat in an upright fetal position sipping water and praying for the pain to go away.

Other than that, however, we did see some awesome stuff out there. I may have not been 100% but I did enjoy being out there just because you won't get to experience that in the classroom. We caught an Atlantic stingray in one of our trawls. That was the only elasmobranch we saw, actually. The rest of the organisms we saw were fish and birds. (One guy accidentally hooked a seagull while fishing. Oops. Don't worry, it lived.) Oh, and the dolphins.

YEAH. DOLPHINS. Bottlenose dolphins. Man, I was so frickin pumped. You should've heard me when we were out there. I was the geekiest person ever. I was gasping and pointing and laughing and shouting. So geeky. At one point while we were going at our fastest speed there was a pod of 6 dolphins following behind us. Oh, goodness. Oh, man. I'm just getting excited talking about it. It was so amazing. That right there was the highlight of my day. Actually, we had a few encounters throughout the day so I had multiple highlights.

Maybe I won't get sick next Friday?? I have a feeling that I will, but let's just have wishful thinking.

Shark Lab 5/29

We got more elasmobranchs classified today! 11, to be exact. Some were more photogenic than others. That brings the grand total up to 30 specimens. We're halfway there!

Blacktip shark

Lemon shark

Arrowhead dogfish

Bonnethead shark

Olsen's winged skate

Great hammerhead shark (this poor guy was all jacked up)

Rounded skate

Shortfin mako

Lesser butterfly ray

Leafnose spineless skate

Bluntnose stingray

There you have it, folks. Another day in the life of a shark biology student. 

Tomorrow more than likely will be an all day boat trip. We may meet up in the morning just to call it off because of the weather. Who knows. If we go, we'll be fishing for elasmobranchs and maybe using a trawl as well. Here at the Gulf Coast Research Lab, we do science rain or shine!

Shark Lab 5/28

So. Many. Sharks. Everywhere. On the floor. On the tables. In buckets. In jars. Everywhere.

This afternoon (1-5 PM) was dedicated to just working on cataloging species. Yes, 4 hours of classifying dead sharks reeking of alcohol. It was fun until you started feeling the effects of the strong stench of alcohol in the room. I have to admit that I got a little light-headed after a few hours.

We classified a lot more than 3 specimens today! We classified I think 16 today. Yeah, be amazed. We were flying through those things. And we still have around 40 to go...

Cownosed ray

Sharpnose sevengill shark

Atalantic sharpnose shark

Sandbar shark

Atlantic guitarfish

Atlantic stingray

Scalloped hammerhead shark

Bancroft's numbfish

Chain catshark

Finetooth shark

Spiny dogfish

Spinner shark

Southern stingray

Silky shark

Tiger shark (smallest tiger shark I've ever seen; it was so cute)

Gulper shark

Phew, that was a doozy. Those were the specimens from today! I hope you get a kick out of them! Many, many more to come.

First Shark Lab

The first shark lab is done. I can now say I've handled preserved specimens with my bare hands, which isn't as gross as you'd think...it just smells really rank. Like really, really jacked.

We have to keep a species catalog of every specimen. We classify them, learn their common name, and jot down defining characteristics of that species. We did a few today. We have to do about 60 in all. It's only just begun, ladies and gentlemen.

Wanna see what I classified today?? Okay, here you go!

This was the spotted eagle ray. So heavy. So, so heavy, y'all. Maybe he was extremely heavy because I didn't expect him to be. Or maybe I'm just not strong enough to lift spotted eagle rays. Whatever.

This was our night shark. It wasn't too bad. Weight-wise, I mean. I was able to lift this one no problem. Notice the large eyes for night hunting...

This was our gulf smoothhound. He wasn't very photogenic. He wouldn't stay on his side long enough to take the picture. So it looks a little wacky compared to the night shark. Hopefully there aren't any points deducted. 

Oh, quick story from lab. This girl decided to put her fingers into one of the sharks' mouths. She apparently had good reasoning. Hmm, what do you think happened to her? Her hand was bleeding for a little bit. So, kids, the moral of the story is: shark teeth are just as dangerous when the shark is alive as they are when it's dead. Don't stick your hand in a shark's mouth ever, even if it's dead. They don't magically turn into blunt objects.

Hopefully I'll be posting the rest of the specimens we catalog. Stay tuned.

Let the Games Begin

The new term has started officially! Shark Biology, here I am. I can't think of any other class I would rather be in. 

There are 5 other classes going on along with ours. Most have 10-15 students in them. Ours has 22. You can imagine the utter chaos on this little campus of ours. The term before had like 4 classes and only one was truly filled to the max. I liked having my own bathroom to myself! Now I'm sharing it with God knows how many people...

The shark biology schedule is a doozy. We'll be taking trips every Friday out onto the boat. Those last all day, 8 AM til 5 PM. Those will consist of literally fishing for sharks. How much more thrilling can it get? We might be taking a trip down to New Orleans to the aquarium for a day as well. Hopefully that works out. That would be cool. 

Wish me luck. I'll be extremely busy. And covered in shark grossness most of the time. It's gonna be great.

Time Flies

That's it. My first class here at the Gulf Coast Research Lab is over. Yeah, I can't believe it either. Who knew 2 weeks would fly by that quickly?

Looking back on it, the herpetology class I took was a bunch of fun and filled with adventure. I wouldn't have changed any of it. I'm glad I took it, even though it wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. I met genuine, fun-loving people from all over the country who enjoyed similar interests. I caught wild snakes and lizards and frogs and salamanders while out in the field. And let's not forget that beautiful alligator we caught from Wednesday.

Looking back, I don't regret a thing. Looking forward, I can't even begin to imagine what kind of craziness will happen in my Shark Biology class! I hear that we will be going out in the boats a lot. Almost every day. So that's exciting stuff. 

Stay tuned for some fin-tastic posts in these next 4 weeks!

Cane Bayou Pictures

I promised pictures of the bayou (and the alligator), so here are some!

This was our view kayaking yesterday. It blew my mind! I always thought the bayou was gross and dark and scary. But it's absolutely gorgeous.

We may have caught an alligator with dipnets...don't tell the lady we rented our kayaks from! She knew we were herpetology students so she probably knew better. 

 Uhm, yeah. That may look like a little guy but he was a thrasher. He was hissing the whole time we were handling him. He actually had part of his tail bitten off. It's a rough life being an alligator in the Louisiana bayou. I called him Nubs. (That one's for you, CJ.)

Another view of the bayou. How beautiful is that? It just couldn't have been prettier. Really. I enjoyed it so much. Except for the 3 and a half hours of rowing. That was less enjoyable. But, man, was it worth the view.

Part of the kayaking route was over a bridge. It was pretty cool.

The area apparently has been known for manatee sightings as well. The last one spotted was a couple of weeks ago. We didn't see one, though. Sadness.

Another awesome view of the bayou.

There's another close-up view of the gator we now call Nubs. He was a sweetie. Look at that adorable face. Irresistible.

Who knew that even the scary bayou we hear all kinds of sketchy stories from is yet another corner of the world that God's beauty stretches out into. Overall a good day of worship.