We learned about many of the research project being conducted at the Bimini
Shark Lab.
We woke up to a grey, drizzly morning and ate our breakfast sluggishly. When we
were told that we would be visiting the
Shark
Lab, our lethargic behavior quickly became one of excitement. We took the
skiff to South Bimini, where the
Shark
Lab is located. There we were greeted by Kat, one of the managers at the facility,
she guided us through the building to the research room. There she discussed with
us shark conservation and the types of research
Shark
Lab carries out. Afterwards she took us outside and showed us a Bimini Boa.
Some of the HSMB students were scared at first but they faced their fears and
all of us were able to hold it. Kat then led us to the shark pen at the research
center.
Kat let us look at a Lemon Shark and a Nurse Shark.
Two Lemon sharks and three
Nurse
Sharks were in the pen. One of the
Nurse
Sharks was a baby and Kat caught the baby in her net first. She held it out
for us to observe, discussing different aspects of its body. She then held out
a Lemon shark for us to compare body structures. She told us about the proper
way to hold a shark, and explained that when you turn a Lemon shark upside down,
tonic immobility kicks in, and it becomes very calm, as if it's in a trance. While
holding this shark, she also discussed how to differentiate a Black-tip Reef Shark
and a Lemon Shark. She taught us about the "sixth-sense" of sharks, which is called
the Ampulae of Lorenzini. This provides sharks with the ability to sense electromagnetic
currents, which helps them pick out the injured fish in schools of fish. Shark
Lab was really fascinating for all of the HSMB crew.
Exploring the intertidal zone was very interesting.
After eating a scrumptious lunch, we took the skiff over to Turtle Rocks, so that
we could observe an intertidal region. Here, we used the quadrant to examine which
types of animals live on the different levels of the rocks. We observed that some
animals stay toward the bottom of the rocks, where they are constantly wet, while
others will stay toward the top of the rocks, where they only get wet during high
tides. Next, we waded through the water of the intertidal area and looked first-hand
at the marine life of this area. Some creatures that we saw include Brittle Sea
Stars, a Slate-pencil Urchin, a
Pink
Tipped Anemone, a Helmet Conch, a Conch Fish, Horse Conch, Hermit Crabs, and
a Cushion Sea Star. Exploring the intertidal zone was both educational and very
interesting.
The team jumps in for a snorkle on the Sapona shipwreck.
Following our departure from Turtle Rocks, we stopped at our next snorkeling site-the
Sapona shipwreck. The Sapona was a concrete ship built during World War I that
had later crashed during a hurricane in the 1920s. This shipwreck was particularly
interesting because we were able to swim into parts of the ship, as it was not
completely submerged in the water. While exploring the inside of the wreck, we
saw many marine invertebrates including sea cucumbers and sea sponges. We were
also able to see Sergeant Majors, French Grunts, a Yellow Stingray, a
Southern
Stingray, and a Queen Angelfish.
Written by: John and Konrad
