Good news at KML!

Its been a beautiful last couple days here at KML....
The winds have picked up and there has been a small craft advisory out on the water, but the breeze makes it feel really nice.

Wednesday morning was turtle nest-hunting morning....no luck again.

However, I am happy to say that we have had some major successes in the settling of larvae!!!! A few days ago I found about 20 little polyps settling on a mangrove leaf in the little glass fingerbowl. In a day or so I found more and have been finding more each day! A bunch of them now have little tentacles and a mouth too! So the brine shrimp feeding begins.
So those of you who know me probably remember that in the past I have tried keeping sea monkeys and other types of artemia nauplii on several different occasions all with pretty miserable failures. I just want to let you know that I am a master at raising sea monkeys now.

Three days ago now (holy cow time flies when you're having fun!) Mac, Anke and I went out into the marina to go "jellyfish hunting" Despite having been out snorkeling around the marina a day ago for 2 hours without success, I was optimistic that we'd find one....and we did!! Mac and Anke found 3 females and I found a male! There was great rejoicing at KML and wine was opened that night in celebration. hahaha

So I have been able to gather lots of eggs from the females and get them to hatch into larvae and hopefully all settle! Keep up those prayers!



Other happenings include spending 2 days at Bill Fitt's home in Key Largo....that night I went with the undergraduate students to the Marine Mammal Conservancy where we volunteered to help rehabilitate 3 pilot whales that had been beached a few weeks ago down in Key West. They were in such bad shape that they couldn't float without help, so we literally stood in the water for 4 hours just holding up the whales! The volunteers recorded their respiratory rate (like many other marine mammals breathing is a conscious effort, so they had about 9 breaths per 5 minutes which is A LOT--the average is about 2!) and also their heart rate. It was an interesting experience and definitely eye opening and taught me a lot about the mammal side of marine biology vs. the invertebrate which is my primary focus. Lets just say it wasn't a bad experience at all--I mean, when else am I going to stand chest-deep in water until 1am holding up a pilot whale?! But it certainly was interesting! This was the only picture I could take, because they didn't allow cameras. This whale below is the one I held for several hours. It was a baby and healthier than the other two, so it was sick of being held. The only reason they kept holding it up was so it wouldn't swim around and bite the volunteers or try to play with the other two who were still in need of rehab. Soooo that made for one "teenage-behaved" pilot whale, who on several occasions tried to bite the supervisors and break free of our hold.... pilot whales are extremely powerful despite it being a baby!


As promised, I had quite the photo-shoot with the Cassiopea at Bill's. It was a lot of fun, but I realized that I have a slight reaction to their stinging! Little red welts that go away were found all over my hands and body since they release their toxin into the water column so it gets allllll over the body. hahaha Its not too bad though, I've been getting used to it!



The Briarium larvae have had a bit of a rocky going lately; they looked great now they are having a hard time settling and staying there...I changed all 4L containers and picked through all the little orange larvae yesterday and transferred them to new water containers...so hopefully they'll start getting better!

Out snorkeling the other day with "The Lobster Girls" (as Anke and I like to call the 3 girls from Clemson University that are studying the Spiny Lobsters) I saw a barracuda in the boat channel in the marina. It was murky and deep, and I felt like Arthur when he is a fish in the moat in the Disney movie "Sword in the Stone." That big fish that chases him around....well because the water was so murky I could barely see in front of me until I was up close and personal with this giant barracuda! It could have eaten me for sure. By the time I backed up enough to get a good picture, this is what I got...but I actually think its pretty funny. Look closely.


Mac and Anke left yesterday morning, so it's been quiet around here until Shelby comes tonight. Next post I promise to put up some pictures of the settling scyphistomae! You will be thrilled.