Childress Lab Field Research Blog

2011-05-28T19:41:00.010-04:00

After a week of checking our field site, our first batch of lobsters is no where to be found! Although none of our experimental lobsters were located, we did have three resident lobsters stay on the site for the entire week. We tracked each resident lobster by a unique color combination of antennae tags. We also determined the sex and carapace length of each resident lobster.

Today we released our second batch of lobsters at a new site. Our second site contains no artificial shelters unlike our first site (which contained artificial shelters). We will continue to monitor our first site along with our second site. It is important to continue checking our first site in case our experimental lobsters return. This will help us determine whether we should check sites for more than one week after an experimental release.

2011-05-23T11:13:00.007-04:00

As promised here are some pictures of our first site release. The first step was to catch all the lobsters out of our mesocosm using hand nets and tickle sticks. The tickle sticks are a great tool that we use to help walk our lobsters into our nets.

Then, the lobsters were loaded into a cooler and placed on the Parker. We drove out to our first experimental site, which was where we set up our transect the previous day. Each lobster was removed from the boat and gently placed into or near a shelter. Both artificial and natural shelters were used. To observe the denning behavior and dispersal of resident lobsters, we also tagged lobsters that were already on the site. These were lobsters that were not used previously in our experiment, but happened to be utilizing shelters within our site. During the next week, we will be checking the site daily to see where our lobsters are!

Field Release Tomorrow!

2011-05-20T19:56:00.005-04:00

For the past week, we have been examining the denning behavior of 20 spiny lobsters in an enclosed area (mesocosm) that contains ten artificial shelters. Each morning, we snorkeled the mesocosm and recorded where the animals are. We can tell each animal apart because they have a unique combination of colored antennae tags. After four days, we reduced the number of artificial shelters in the mesocosm to five to examine whether habitat loss will result in a change in denning behavior.

Now that we know the dominance status of each individual and have examined their denning behavior in an enclosed area, we are ready for the final stage of our experiment. Tomorrow we will be releasing our first set of 20 spiny lobsters onto a field site to examine their denning behavior and dispersal in the natural environment. To prepare for our first release, we placed weighted transect lines along our sites. Using transect lines allows us to locate specific structures and to easily navigate our sites. Some great pictures of this process will be posted soon!

The many sizes and shapes of lobsters

2011-05-16T13:49:00.010-04:00

Spiny lobsters have a complex life cycle. It begins when females travel to deeper, colder waters to release their young. The females fan their telson (or tail), and the larvae drift off into ocean currents without any parental care! At this stage, the transparent lobsters are referred to as phyllosome larvae.

As they complete all eleven stages of their development, spiny lobsters begin to look more like adult lobsters and are called puerulus larvae. It is a long journey (6-12 months), and as the surviving larvae grow, they begin to settle on hard bottom habitats. At this stage, spiny lobsters are solitary and have banded legs which aid in camouflage (see picture above). Spiny lobsters become social when they grow larger and migrate out of algal habitats.

Tracking juvenile lobsters using acoustic tags

2011-05-15T16:08:00.015-04:00

Have you ever wondered where lobsters go when they leave their homes? Lobsters like all animals have to go find food, avoid scary predators, and make it home safely each day. What makes this particularly difficult to study is the fact that lobsters are nocturnal (active at night). That means while we're asleep in our beds, these lobsters are just waking up to go exploring. So how do marine biologists study the behavior of lobsters at night?

One way is to use acoustic tags. The small transmitter attached to the back of the lobster above sends out a signal a regular intervals (every 90 seconds). With the proper receivers set in the water, it is possible to track the movements of a tagged lobster without even being there. Here's how it works...

First, you need a set of acoustic tag receivers. Think of these as small radio receivers that operate on batteries and are water-tight. Here we have 10 radio receivers mounted in stands and ready to be placed underwater. Once in the water the receivers can keep track of many different lobsters at the same time.

Our experiment relies on the expertise of our friend and senior research biologist Dr. Rodney Bertelsen of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Dr. Rod is an expert at tracking marine animals using acoustic tags. He usually tracks the big adult lobsters out along the coral reef, but for this experiment, he is helping us to track our juvenile lobsters in Florida Bay.

The first step is careful placement of the receivers in a pattern on the ocean floor. On our study site this is shallow water, only about 2 meters deep and the receivers are placed about 20 meters apart. Dr. Mike drives the boat very carefully checking his GPS to find the exact spot for Dr. Rod to release the receiver.

Next, it is time to catch some juvenile lobsters to participate in our experiment. Here Dr. Mike dives down with a hand net to collect a juvenile lobster. The water is a little murky today because the wind has mixed up the sediment making it hard to see very far. A total of three lobsters are collected and returned to the boat.

Dr. Rod carefully attaches the acoustic tag to the shell of the lobster using Super Glue. This sounds painful (and should not be tried at home) but it is harmless to the lobster because their shell is hard. The glue will keep the tag attached for a week or two until the lobster has its next molt. Then as the lobster crawls out of its old skin it will leave the tag behind. Dr. Rod also places a bright yellow tag on the base of the antennae. Can you see the yellow tag in the picture? This helps the divers to recognize a tagged lobster once released.

Now the time has come to release the tagged lobster. Dr. Mike carefully swims the animal back to the same shelter where it was collected. It is not known if lobsters keep the same shelter night after night, but we hope to find out from this experiment. By the end of the day we release three tagged lobsters known by their tag colors as RY, LY, and YY.

Here is lobster RY in his home shelter, an concrete block. This is where he was released on Day 0. We note this on a map printed on waterproof paper. We carry this map on a clipboard underwater each day when we search for our tagged lobsters.

Meanwhile, our acoustic receivers are listening for the 'ping' of each acoustic tag. When a 'ping' is heard it is recorded along with the time of day. Later when we recover the receivers and download the data to a computer, we will know which receivers heard from each lobster. As the lobsters move around, they will only be received by the closest receivers. That way we can estimate their location at all hours of the day and night.

Today is Day 5 and we checked on the location of the lobsters on Days 2 and 4. Lobster RY was found in a hole about 2 meters from it's original release point on both Days 2 & 4. Lobster YY was found 1 meter from it's release point on Day 2 and then 8 meters away on Day 4. Lobster LY was not found on either Day 2 or Day 4, but that doesn't mean its left the site. We'll have to wait until we check the data from the receivers to know if and when it left the area. Check back soon to see what happened to our tagged lobsters.

Time for some snorkeling!

2011-05-14T23:35:00.010-04:00

For the past week, we have been completing behavioral observations to determine the dominance status of each lobster. By knowing the dominance status of each lobster, we will be able to determine if dominance influences den sharing behavior in our mesocosm study.

Since we worked hard all week to prepare the mesocosm, we decided to take the afternoon off and snorkel Coral Gardens - a coral reef near Long Key. Enjoy the pictures (Left: sea turtle; Middle: cow fish; Right: brain coral)!

Learning New Techniques

2011-05-11T19:28:00.005-04:00

As a researcher, it is important to learn new techniques that my be useful for future experiments. We started off the morning by learning how to pull larval collectors. Specifically, these collectors monitor the abundance of spiny lobster pueruli (or late-stage larval lobsters) near Long Key. The pueruli can be extremely small, and as we found out, it is often hard to pick them out of the collectors. In the afternoon, we began a trial run of our acoustic tagging project. We activated all of the receivers (the objects that receive a 'ping' or signal from the acoustic tag) and headed out into the field to set up the array and tag juvenile lobsters. After the receivers and tagged lobsters were in the water, the 'pings' began to be recorded by the receivers. This data will be later uploaded into a computer, and the position of each tagged lobster will be calculated. By completing this trial run, we will have a better understanding of the steps needed to set up an array of receivers and the dispersal distance of juveniles.

First Day in the Field

2011-05-10T17:53:00.005-04:00

After learning how to complete an underwater transect, we headed out on the Parker (the Keys Marine Lab boat). Each field station contains two experimental sites (one with artificial shelters and one without artificial shelters), and the artificial shelters must be removed from one these sites. Our first task was to shoo out all the inhabitants with a tickle stick (which is commonly used for lobstering in the Keys). Then, we tied a rope to the blocks, swam the heavy blocks to the boat, and lifted them onto the boat. Since the artificial shelters have been underwater for many years, they were fouled with many neat organisms. While we were snorkeling around, we took some pictures of lobsters in their dens. Lobsters often use the artificial shelters, crevice holes, and sponges/corals as homes during the day. Part of this experiment will examine the influence of artificial shelters on denning behavior and dispersal of juvenile lobsters.

Which Lobsters Share Shelters?

2011-05-09T22:02:00.004-04:00

Spiny lobsters are known to be social animals that often share crevice shelters. However, den sharing is far from obligatory. On average only one-half of all juvenile lobsters in Florida Bay are sharing shelters at any time. What are the factors that determine who will and will not share shelters with one another? This is the question we are studying for our current research project in the Florida Keys.

We are staying at the Keys Marine Laboratory in Long Key, FL for the next month and will we post updates as we can during our time out of the water.

Recent Article on Blue Crab Presentation

2011-01-18T13:54:00.002-05:00

Click on the link below to read a recent article by Bo Petersen.

Blue crab moving farther upstream as water becomes saltier, more polluted

Where Have All the Crabs Gone Presentation

2011-01-13T13:16:00.002-05:00

Click here to download the Where Have All the Crabs Gone presentation as a PDF file.

This is the public presentation made on January 11th, 2011 by Dr. Michael Childress.

State of the Basin Newletter

2011-01-13T13:07:00.004-05:00

Click here to download a PDF copy of State of the Basin Newsletter.

This newsletter highlights the most recent research findings for our ongoing study of blue crabs in the ACE Basin NERR.

Blue Crab Presentation Rescheduled

2011-01-11T10:58:00.002-05:00

The public presentation titled "Where Have All the Blue Crabs Gone" has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan 11th, 7 pm, in the Maclean Auditorium of the Technical College of the Lowcountry, Beaufort, SC.

The presentation is free and open to the public and door open at 6:30 pm.

Childress Lab Presents Work at Multiple Meetings

2010-11-18T20:42:00.007-05:00

The Childress Lab presented research at numerous meetings this semester. Kirk Parmenter presented his posted titled "Drought and the Decline of South Carolina Blue Crabs" at the 2010 SC Water Resources Conference. His poster was selected as the runner-up for best student poster.

Click here for the 2010 SC Water Conference Proceedings

Katherine presented her poster titled "Do Octopus Exhibit Optimism or Pessimism" at the 3rd annual Clemson Biology Student Symposium (CBASS). The research was Katherine's honor's theses project at Millersville University.

Michael presented an oral presentation titled "Modeling the Decline of Blue Crabs using an Individual Based Model" at the Southeastern Evolutionary Genetics and Population Ecology meeting in Cherry Lake, FL and at the 2010 SC Water Resources Conference in Columbia, SC. Michael also presented an oral presentation titled "Impact of Mass Sponge Mortality and Juvenile Density on Spiny Lobster Recruitment in Florida Bay" at the Linking Science to Management: Florida Keys Ecosystem Conference in Duck Key, FL.

Click here for the Linking Science to Management Conference proceedings

We have larval crabs!

2010-11-18T20:22:00.005-05:00

In a monster sampling effort this fall, Kirk and Kylie completed the first study of blue crab recruitment in the ACE Basin. They made 11 round trips to the coast and spent 22 days on the water.

Kylie then processed 480 jars of plankton spending over three weeks straight at the dissecting scope.

But the effort paid off by documenting the arrival of first stage juvenile crabs.

And the arrival of megalopae. The results of this recruitment study will be Kylie's project for the 2011 Benthic Ecology Meeting.

Measuring Crab Larval Recruitment

2010-08-30T09:40:00.006-04:00

In order to monitor larval blue crab recruitment, we built and deployed 48 larval collectors made of PVC pipe wrapped with hogs hair filter. Collectors were placed at four station in each of the three rivers of the ACE Basin across a range of salinity from 20-35 ppt.

Collectors were either placed at the surface attached to a surface buoy or 1 m above the substrate attached to a concrete anchor block. Here Kirk and Kylie show off the difference between a surface and benthic collector.

Congratulations TJ

2010-08-06T15:42:00.002-04:00

Tim Jordan successfully defended his master’s thesis titled: The Role of Behavioral Temperaments on the Ecology of the Caribbean Reef Octopus, Octopus briareus.

Congratulations Jenn

2010-08-06T15:33:00.002-04:00

Jenn Seda successfully defended her master’s thesis titled: Behavioral and Morphological Differences Within and Between Populations of the Sailfin Molly, Poecilia latipinnna.

Congratulations Kaighn

2010-07-22T19:26:00.004-04:00

Kaighn was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Award in the Department of Biological Sciences. His honors thesis poster presentation at the Benthic Ecology Meeting won an Outstanding Undergraduate Research award. Here he is taking time out from writing his senior honors thesis to cook up some burgers during the BioSci Club's Darwin Day Cook-out.

Congratulations Kirk

2010-07-22T17:37:00.003-04:00

A toast to Kirk Parmenter for being awarded a Wade Stackhouse Fellowship for the 2010-2011 academic year. This is Kirk's second Stackhouse Fellowship, the most prestigious graduate student award in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.

Benthic Ecology Meeting in Wilmington, NC

2010-03-15T21:38:00.010-04:00

The Childress Lab was well represented at the 39th Benthic Ecology Meetings this year in Wilmington, NC. Kirk gave an oral presentation on his blue crab disease morphology research. TJ gave an oral presentation on his octopus predator-prey interactions. Michael gave an oral presentation on the latest simulations of the SCBCRABS model.

Kaighn presents his poster on Hematodinium infection in blue crabs.

The Conservation of Marine Resources creative inquiry team (Adam, Frank, Laura, Anna, Rebecca, Alyssa and Aby) presents their poster on structure and biodiversity in the Florida Keys.

The banquet was on the Henretta, a large dinner cruise steamer that took us on a sunset cruise along the Cape Fear River.

The Childress Lab guys.

The Childress Lab gals.

Both posters won awards as "Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research Posters".

Year in Review: ACE Basin

2009-12-10T21:46:00.005-05:00

In September and in December, Kirk and students of Conservation of Marine Resources conducted a quarterly census of blue crabs in the ACE Basin.

The crab catch is down almost 40% from this time last year.

But so is the frequency of the Hematodinium sp. parasite. It appears that above average rainfall this year may have dramatically altered the distribution and frequency of both crabs and parasites.

Year in Review: Florida Keys

2009-12-10T21:21:00.005-05:00

In October, our creative inquiry team, Conservation of Marine Resources, conducted a field research project in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

I think everyone had a great time, but don't take my word for it. Check out their own blog postings on the CMR web blog at http://clemsonconservation.blogspot.com

TJ finished his field work on octopus behavioral syndromes.

He even got a few more movies of octopus in action while at the lab.

Kaighn and Michael captured a non-native asian swimming crab. This was the first record of this species in the Florida Keys.

It was a perfect place to celebrate a couple of birthdays (Kaighn 21 and Michael 45).

Year in Review: Yellowstone

2009-12-10T20:56:00.008-05:00

In May Margaret, Jean and I revisited Yellowstone National Park.

The Druid Peak wolves were back on their ancestral territory in the Lamar Valley. We saw the pack nearly everyday during our visit.

As a result, most of the elk, sheep and mule deer remained vigilant when grazing in the valley.

However, this young moose had a different strategy choosing the safety of a back-yard salt-like in Cooke City.

Did I mention that we also saw a lot of bears? Fortunately, not the one that made this track on the trail we were hiking.

Year in Review: Hawaii

2009-12-10T20:32:00.006-05:00

In May, I spent three weeks helping Margaret and Kristine with their incredible waterfall-climbing goby research on the Big Island of Hawaii.

On our days off, we explored the coast on snorkel, by kayak and on SCUBA.

We were treated to many wonderful marine invertebrates...

amazing reef fishes...

green sea turtles...

and acrobatic manta rays!

Spring Crab Census

2009-04-06T19:31:00.012-04:00

Sunrise over Mosquito Creek, or should we call it Great Swarms of Biting Gnats Creek.

Our home away from home at the ACE Basin NERR Station.

The Childress Lab prepares for another long day of crab collecting and sampling.

Kirk takes inventory of crab assembly line.

TJ wrestles an adult male with anger management issues.

Kate keeping warm on a chilly morning boat trip.

Michael working the Mosquito Creek crab pots in search of the tagged blue crabs.

2009 Benthic Ecology Meeting

2009-03-10T22:16:00.004-04:00

The strong, warm winds blowing off the Gulf of Mexico brought a spring-like atmosphere to Corpus Christi and the 2009 BEM. Kirk, TJ and Michael all gave presentations, played some animated racketball, and enjoyed the banquet aboard the USS Lexington.

It's good to be back in the Keys

2008-05-09T23:00:00.014-04:00

Ah, back in the Keys again for the summer. After a long and harrowing trip down last Saturday, TJ and I arrived to bright sunny skys, azure blue water, and fish looking at us pleadingly from the water (please fish for me, please). Before we could go fishing though (okay, after we went fishing, but only once. . . ), we needed to to do a bit of work to start off the summer, namely check the collectors for baby lobsters (or puerulus postlarvae as we lobster nerds like to say). We picked up our intrepid leader (Michael) from the airport in Miami on Tuesday and headed out to check the collectors on Friday, which had been floating on the ocean side of Long and Matecumbe Keys since late March of this year, accumulating lots of algae, sediment, and yes, tiny, clear, and exceedingly cute baby lobsters like the one you see on my finger above. Forget baby dolphins, baby lobsters are way cuter. . .

Checking collectors, such as the one you see above could be construed as hard work, even on a gorgeous sunny day like yesterday. First the boat approaches the collector, moving into the wind. Next Pete reaches down with a giant bag and captures the collector, which is floating about a foot under the water. TJ unhooks the whole shootin' match from the anchor and Pete hauls it all on board. Next, each section of the collector (sheets of genuine hogs hair filter material made for industrial air handling units) is checked meticulously for little lobsters, many of which are completely transparent.

Some, like those you see above, are a bit easier to spot. The little stripy lobsters are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stages, which have probably been on the collectors for over a month now. After checking, the collectors go back into the water for another few days, before they are pulled again. After 28 collectors, my arms felt like they were about to fall off. But it was all worth it for the little buggers you see below.

The striped pattern on the lobster helps it hid in the algae habitat it normally would settle in, but makes it stand out a bit against the blue hogs hair. All the better for us. We had a pretty good haul and ended up with about 450 lobsters total in two buckets.

What can I say. I was a hot day and I was really dirty. . . not a bad time for a swim once that 28th collector was back in the water. After we got back to the house, we tagged all the lobsters with a little magnetic piece of wire. A very expensive and delicate machine injects these through the needle you see below into the tail of the lobster. We can then release these tiny modified Robo-lobsters back on to our sites. Every month, we will take the metal detector and check each lobster to see if it is one that we released.

Not bad for a day's work. Tomorrow we seed the lobsters onto the sites, should be fun!

The New Lab Logo

2008-04-27T12:51:00.004-04:00

Welcome to the B.E.E.R. Lab. Our new lab logo designed by Dr. Pete Bouwma touts Behavioral Ecology and Evolution Research at Clemson University. Adorned with the research subjects from the Childress & Ptacek labs, this logo has found its way onto an entire line of Zazzle.com products. Click here to place your order http://www.zazzle.com/pbouwma/

Benthic Ecology Meeting 2008

2008-04-27T12:37:00.004-04:00

The 2008 Benthic Ecology Meeting was held in Providence, RI; a very long 16 hour drive across 10 states (SC, NC, VA, WV, MD, PE, NJ, NY, CN, RI). Kirk, TJ, Pete and Michael all made presentations and enjoyed visiting with friends old and new. Photo by Janessa Cobb.

The Childress lab gets into the spirit of the Beach Party BEM banquet with a furious game of beachball volleyball. We always knew those Hawaiian shirts would come in handy someday. Photo by Janessa Cobb.

Final Days in the Keys

2008-03-21T22:59:00.010-04:00

Tommorow TJ, Sara, and I head back to SC to return to our normal lives after 3 fantastic weeks in the Keys. We are all quite sore and tired from hauling concrete around for the last few days, but all is finished: 40 larval collectors are in the water off Lower Matecumbe Key and Long Key, all of the control blocks are nicely re-fitted with pieces of wood, octopuses are tattooed, and the entire census is completed. Plus we got a few days of fishing in and a trip to Key West as well. Not too bad for 3 weeks, considering the iffy weather we had most of the time down here. Long drive to Clemson tomorrow, but we leave tired and aching, but very happy and bit more tan (+ plus a few weird burns where we missed with the sunscreen).Glad we weren't in the water this day. When the wind blows hard from the south like it did on Monday and Tuesday, we start seeing Portugese Men-o-war showing up in near shore. The wind catches the sail on top and drags them off the open ocean. We saw close to 50 in the last few days.Ah, the very last of 40 collectors gets deployed. . .And the field crew rejoices! No more collectors (for a little while). As you can tell from the chalky-looking water, this was a pretty nasty day to be on the boat. It was beautiful on shore. Pretty typical in the Keys, the nicest days on shore are the lousiest on the water.With that finished in the morning, we were able to put in a few hours of fishing in the afternoon with Cindy's boyfriend Joe and his daughter Riona. We caught 2 of these sandbar sharks, one of which broke Joe's rod. This one fought TJ forever and was still pretty feisty when we brought it on the boat to remove TJ's precious hook. No pictures of that part since TJ and I were in hand-to-fin combat with the shark. Fortunately everyone is doing fine, shark included. After this, I even managed to land some ladyfish using a topwater plug. Not a bad day and not a bad trip in general. Back again in May!

A Long and Winding River

2008-03-19T21:52:00.009-04:00

The Ashepoo River is the longest black water river in the US. Over the past two weeks Kirk's team surveyed for blue crabs over more than 48 miles from St. Helena Sound to Horseshoe Creek. Neither wind, nor faulty wiring could prevent the team from completing the survey.

Building modified crab pots behind the McKinzie Field Station at Bennet's Point, SC.

Aligators appear on the banks of the Ashepoo at a salinity where the blue crabs begin to disappear.

Looking forward to our next visit to the ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Down in the Keys in March

2008-03-17T10:41:00.006-04:00

After 2 weeks and a few days, Peter, TJ, and Sara are done with the community censuses! Good thing too, because the weather has just gone down the tubes. Wind just kicked up to 20 kts under a sunny sky. Our various itchy spots are thanking us for a day with out knees planted firmly in hydroids, cuts from lobsters, or bites from octopus (Sara got bitten by a little one). Just a few more blocks to replace and some collectors to put out and we are finished for this trip. Tonight we celebrate St. Patrick's day here in the Keys with some green beer at the Dead Animal Bar. In the meantime, here are some photos of the expedition. Back to SC next Saturday!
Here is a nice block, just waiting to have some wooden pegs driven into it. It will most likely just break my heart when it decides to split in half on the very last peg. Why wait until all the rest are in? Why!?Sara shows off her newly acquired octopus bling bling. Although you can't see it, the arm the octopus autotomized (dropped) is still wiggling and sucking on to things. I'm sure this will be all the rave next fall.This is a spotted cleaner shrimp in a sun anemone. It didn't seem real pleased by the interruption, but we ended up getting along just fine. Nice to see a few sun anemones on our sites this time down.This is the way that inshore hardbottom is supposed to look back in Florida Bay rather than the wasteland left at our sites that were impacted by the sponge kill/die off. Beautiful vase sponge and soft corals.

Catching Crabs in the Ashepoo

2008-03-14T21:41:00.006-04:00

After much work preparing the boat and pots, Kirk gets started with his project to census the blue crabs of the ACE Basin National Esturine Research Reserve. This research will track the distribution of juvenile and adult crabs along the Ashepoo and Edisto rivers from St. Helena Sound to the freshwater boundary. Joe Bisesi shows his tiger pride while helping to measure the catch.

TJ/Tarpon Feeding

2007-07-20T12:47:00.000-04:00

OK, so I'd heard about a place call the "Hungry Tarpon" where you can get fish and eggs for breakfast. Supposedly the place is famous. Anyway, the food was superb, but there's also a dock where you can go and hand feed 75 - 120 pound tarpon. As I'm writing this, my knuckles are still bleeding from the first one I fed! Way cool! I know it sounds tourist-like, but it was really fun and I am doing this again.

Peter's New Friend

2007-07-19T19:24:00.000-04:00

We've really enjoyed our time here in the Keys. We've seen a lot of cool things, had a lot of great experiences, and met a lot of cool people. Today was no exception. It started out like many others we've had - up early and leaving the canal for a long day of octopus tagging/releasing and such. We got to our site and a very nasty algal bloom made the vis terrible at best. Peter, wanting to lead by example, suggested that we simply make the best of it and see what may come. I quickly decided to shrug off the bad vis and make haste at what this wonderful day had in store. We got our gear together, jumped in the water, and set off for the day's new adventure. Now, anyone who knows Pete very well knows of his innate ability to make new friends wherever he goes, some human - some not (eg. dolphins, sea turtles, cormorants, etc.). While wandering around aimlessly trying to find octopus dens in the pea soup, I noticed Peter near my position. Underneath him was a new friend of the day, a remora. This was a good friend. Despite the accidental flogging and kicking Pete gave it, the remora turned the other cheek (or rather the other operculum). Pete had yet again made a new friend. This new friend found a strange connection with Pete and chose to stick around for the entire trip. Pete really seemed to enjoy the company. Man, that guy really has a knack!

Catching the Kraken

2007-07-18T18:16:00.000-04:00

18 July, Two Thousand and Seven:
As we cast off today and left the harbor, I felt a sense of foreboding, as if some evil were awaiting us. Of course, our goal today was to capture the legendary creature of yore, the mythical Kraken. TJ claims to have spotted it earlier in the summer, lying await in a crevice, its cold, evil eyes glowing in the darkness. And so we returned to the waters of Mount Trashmore 1, seeking the vile beast in its lair. As we rounded the cape of Long Key and headed West, into an uncertain future, I set my brow and squinted into the noonday sun, haunted by my thoughts of what lay ahead of us. I looked over at TJ and saw that he was similarly preoccupied. Would we live to see the sun go down this day?
Some hours later, after an epic battle of several minutes, I succeeded at last in chasing the Kraken from its lair with my tickle stick. As it fled my stick I managed somehow to gather its massive bulk in my net and lift it from the water. I had captured the Kraken. I swam the vile beast over to TJ to show him. Upon spotting this massive octopus, TJ's eyes went wide and he nearly soiled himself. We took the beast, now restrained, back to the Argus for tagging. Although I regretted taking the evil creature onto the Argus for any time period, lest its evil anoint the timbers of the ship, causing years of bad luck, sterility for our goats, and hives.
Quickly we tagged the beast and released it back to its lair to live another day, attacking ships, crabs, and lobsters. T'was a good day to be alive - we conquered the beast, lived to see another day, and had cookies awaiting us back on the ship. A good day indeed!

Mocking Us

2007-07-15T23:35:00.001-04:00

Now that we have finished with the crab tethering experiment, fiddler crabs have now appeared in droves on our porch. We looked in the mangroves via kayak, we ordered crabs via FedEx, we crawled around in the mud at Anne's Beach catching crabs. Blood, sweat, and tears for crabs. Then they show up on the porch in such numbers that we are now stepping on them accidentally. Not that I am bitter.

Another view

2007-07-14T22:07:00.000-04:00

Despite the embellishments of the editor, I will admit, I did learn an important lesson...I found out that diving au naturale is actually very comfortable! (picture not posted).

A Painful, Burning Sensation

2007-07-12T19:26:00.000-04:00

Above: Happy, heroic-looking, protected marine scientists

TJ has had better days in the field than this one (a bit of an understatement to say the least). All of us learn one day or another why we wear our protective outer skins. Yes, despite commentary to the contrary, we don't all just want to feel like Superman (sans cape for hydrodynamic benefit, Superman would be slow underwater with a cape, or "shark bait" as we in the business like to say). No, we wear our sexy, protective skin suits for their anti-sting benefits for the marine biologist's delicate skin. If we don't wear them, we take a chance of a random jellyfish shot to the groin. Some of us are willing to take that chance (the tough guys/girls), others are not (the pragmatists or wimps, if you will) and a few of us (TJ) are new enough not to truly understand the risks (the new guys). TJ has now moved, rather painfully, into the pragmatists group. Welcome to the group. Strangely, he has yet to thank me for my part in this vital segment of his Keys education. . .

Above: Public Enemy #1

After deploying the CRAB-ER-ATE-OR 4000's (crab tethers, see earlier post) at Mount Trashmore (bayside of Long Key), TJ, unclad with dive skin, let out a bellow and jumped up onto the boat with a great deal of urgency, vaulting past me on the dive ladder. You see, it is much easier to check the tethers if you don't have to go through the trouble of donning your lycra dive skin (complete with heroic theme music). You do run the risk of kicking up an upside down jellyfish though, such as while waiting for the dive ladder to clear next to the boat. The upside down jellys are somewhat unique in the Keys by their tendency to release the stinging cells into the water without much provocation, stinging you by proxy, without even touching them. These stinging cells can also migrate into rather unfortunate places, such as up your swimming suit. For some reason, TJ didn't seem to appreciate my recitation of this particular marine biology lesson, proceeding to tear off his shorts and hop around naked like a hyperactive crab, complaining about a painful, burning sensation on his inner thighs.Above: Pete explains the wonders of the upside down jellyfish to TJ.

Needless to say, this was a very trying situation for me. I have been on the boat with rapidly disrobing scientists before, and let me assure you, it is not a pretty sight. You will happy to know that I survived this incident with little physical or psychological damage. TJ also assures me that all his vital parts survived the Jellyfish attack. I will take his word for it.

What we've been up to (now with pictures).

2007-07-10T09:31:00.000-04:00

Ok, so to catch everyone up on what we've been doing.... We have been tethering crabs in the craberators, catching and tagging octopus, and went with Cyndy, Kim, Jen, Fernando, Dusty, and the ODU crew to watch fireworks at Sombrero beach. Really good fireworks! The water yesterday was 91 degrees! That's a little too warm, even for someone as cold-natured as me.
We've also had an algal bloom or something that has caused some poor vis on some of our sites (only about 3 feet). This has poured some icy cold water on our red-hot experiments. No worries, we trudged right on through. We also had a pump go out on one of our cattle tanks (used for our night experiments). We improvised here as well - the Childress' lab always prevails! We've also found out that catching our own fiddler crabs has been highly productive, although messy and disgusting (see tethered crab below).Oh the trouble and suffering we will go through for the cause, not to mention all the money we are saving our lab (just a little plug in case Michael is reading this). The high points....Pete talking to fiddler crabs, the fireworks show with good friends, and Florida sunshine! I still may never make it back to good ol' South Carolina.

Octopus Hatching

2007-07-03T01:32:00.001-04:00

Here is the video of the octopus hatching. Not real clear on YouTube, but you get the idea. This was within the top 5 coolest things I have ever seen underwater. Enjoy!

The Octopus Whisperer

2007-07-02T21:35:00.000-04:00

So just to update you all on some of the way cool stuff I've been doing. Seems like things are falling right into place. Today we went tagging/releasing octopus at one of our sites.
We found one female with her clutch of egg sacks in the den. As we attempted to capture her, I noticed a peculiar object out of the corner of my eye. One of the eggs had just hatched! In fact, we found that upon agitation - all the eggs began hatching! We even caught some on video, which we plan to put on YouTube (we'll post the link). I've even got one video of an egg hatching into a baby octopus, who then chose to reside on my hand for a few minutes. Then Peter and I, as all good octopus mothers do, protected our brood from ensuing fish predators until they were in the safe confines of their original den. What a job!!! To think....they actually pay me for this.

The Full Moon Party.....What a blast! I had always heard these things were fun, but I really had no idea. There were fire dancers, a reggae band, a parade, guys walking around on stilts - the whole shebang. I'm also pretty sure I caught a glimpse of "Dancing Pete". I cannot be absolutely certain, for it's sort of like seeing Elvis, Bigfoot, or even a UFO. Nobody believes you when you tell them. Oh well, call me crazy. And the rum drinks, whatever they're called, with the glow sticks in them. It was sort of like being at a rave (Pete's parents translation: party with glow sticks), but with RUM!!!! Anybody that gets down here should definitely go to one of those. We polished up the night with a quick stop at the Safari Lounge (aka-Dead Animal Bar). If you've never been there, they have a sort of ring toss game that all the people play. While I feel that this novice was as good as anyone that tried, Pete excelled at this game like no other. With one eyebrow raised, he entered an almost zen-like state. I've never seen anything quite like it. The guy was money...every time. Good times...good times. Now I'm looking forward to Sombrero Beach and 4th of July fireworks. To be continued.....

Excerpted from One Year to Live: Memoirs of an Octopus

2007-06-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

Chapter 11: Alien Abduction

It was a fine summers day. Water was a bit warm, but certainly fine for an all-day nap. After a long night of searching for crabs, sleep was certainly welcome. I stretched my arms, blew some water out of my siphon, and settled in for a nice long sleep. There appeared to be no need to plug the hole to my den with rocks or shells today, and so much work carrying all those rocks around. Besides, this seemed to be a pretty safe den. Unlike the last place with all the free loading mantis shrimps, disgustingly foul spider crabs (do they ever wash?), and male prostitute toadfish, constantly calling to females, all day and night. This place was much better and, after evicting a sponge or two, rather spacious.

My only real concern was an incident a few weeks ago when I was disturbed from a deep slumber (and finally with a dream that did not include a moray!) by a strange stick shoved into my den from the outside. I grabbed on to it to see what it was, but it was pulled out of my tentacles rather roughly. Outside were a couple of large alien creatures, blowing bubbles and looking at me through inquisitively through some strange clear masks. If they weren't so big, I would have stepped outside to check them out, but I thought it would be best to stay inside. After a few more pokes, they were gone, swimming away using large yellow fins. I fell back to sleep and when I woke up, convinced myself my strange encounter with these alien creatures was just a very vivid dream, and continued about my business of piling rocks next to the den and finding some tasty crabs.

Today, as I settled back into a deep slumber, the nagging sensation that my experience was not a dream was still there, but I shrugged it off, curled up my tentacles, and went to sleep. Suddenly, I was awoken out of a deep dream of catching a catching a giant clawless king crab, by the same stick pushed into my den, but this time much harder. Instinctively, I tried to jet away, but was stopped by some strange material with holes in it. Just barely awake, I watched in horror as my den slipped from view and I was transported to the surface and taken out of the water. Ahead of my was a large ship, floating above the water, with one of the strange alien creatures reaching out its tentacle at me. This creature examined me, hanging denless out of the water, made some approving grunts while showing its strange, white, multi-section beak, and dropped me in a container of water. Then, the other creatures got back on board, and within minutes, we were moving. I wept for the loss of my den, and cowered in fear for what might lie ahead.

After a short trip, I was again trapped in the strange material with holes, lifted from the water and placed in a glass prison filled with water. I was given a lousy little den, and then left alone while the strange alien creatures moved away. I have an uneasy feeling that there might be an anal probe in my future. Until then, where will I find food (already I could eat a whole crab)? What will happen to me when the aliens grow tired of me? Where will I find a mate? Will I ever see my den again? Why does the strange-looking, hairy-faced alien creature keep looking at me like it wants to eat me?

Continued in "One Year to Live: Memoirs of an Octopus"

.......

2007-06-18T23:45:00.000-04:00

Is it more disturbing that I talk in my sleep, or that I sleep that close to Pete? And yes, Pete, I have found Moby Dick.

Back in the Field

2007-06-17T22:35:00.001-04:00

After spending a few days shore - bound by the weather, it was back to the field today for work and a little fishing. We did the Mount Trashmore site on the bayside of Long Key. TJ mentioned many times how great it was to get back in the water. . . oh for the days when a rainy day was not a welcome respite but a horrible stop in the daily diving, fishing, research action. Not all was lost with our days on shore. Michael managed to finish up some important work on the computer. TJ and I went into Marathon, picked up some supplies, and stopped in at the FWC to see Cindy and the crew. TJ also got to meet the giant lobster and I got soaked netting it out of the tank.The next day called for rain again, so we decided to build some research gear for our upcoming project, codenamed OCTO (Operation Crab Tethering for Octopus). As is typical of marine science, since no one makes a device to tie a small swimming crab to the bottom for an octopus to catch later, we had to make one. We came up with three designs, one each, and built 2 of each design. My personal favorite is, of course, my own design, "THE CRAB-ER-ATE-OR 4000". As you can see from the picture below, it is a sleek and beautiful machine, and ready for deployment. Keep your eyes out for this baby to hit the late-night infomercial circuit any day now ("it slices, it dices, it tethers a crab to a plastic tube, and all for 3 easy payments of $19.95, plus shipping and handling!").Michael's "T-crab" is also a strong contender, as are TJ's Crabby Motel "crabs check in, but they don't check 0ut" and the Crab Buffet - All U Can Eat "Octopus Welcome." As you can see TJ is not one for brevity when it comes to naming research gear.
We all await with baited breath to see who's design wins the day. By the way, the crabs go inside the tubes and the whole thing is placed on the bottom near an octopus den. After a full day of engineering, we decided to go fishing. We headed out to Old Dan Bank and set up for some sharks. TJ hooked up with a good one, which ran him off about 100 yards of 65 lbs braid before biting through the wire leader. This shark has become TJ's White Whale. I hear him mumbling about the shark in his sleep from across the room ("I'll never buy cheap leader again, I'll never buy cheap leader again, I'll never. . . ). We will be back to get it, and for TJ's sake, hopefully sooner than later.Today we slept in a bit after a pretty good gathering over at the Octogon house w/ the ODU lobster crew. This afternoon we hit the waters near Mount Trashmore, the highest point in the Keys at a whopping 35 feet above sea level. We got the site done and took some great cleaner shrimp pictures. While Michael took photos of the shrimp, TJ and I molested some octopus, completing an additional 3 tickle stick tests. All in all, a pretty good weekend (although none of us can really remember what day it is anymore).

Michael's Misery

2007-06-15T21:10:00.000-04:00

Today Michael decided to finish some grading he had left over from his trip to Yellowstone. The forecast called for rain and it gave us some time to catch up on some busy work. So while he graded papers, Pete and I made a trip to Marathon. I'm not sure if they're called Marathon trips because they're made into Marathon or if it just seems like you are running a marathon every time you go. At any rate, we got to get some needed supplies and stopped by to see Cyndy at her office. I got to see a lobster that belonged in a Godzilla movie along with some other cool stuff. The pit stop also got us invited to a Pirates of the Carribean II party tonight at Cyndy's house! Right now the monsoons are pouring in from the south, and more are in the forecast. I finally got some time for all my cuts and scrapes to heal out of the water. Thank God for small favors. Michael prepared an excellent meal of fajitas for us tonight. He claims this is what won him his wife Margaret. I'm taking careful notes and am certain I will attain gourmet status in no time. The picture is from post-meal time. Nuff said......

Ahhhhhhh, Days in the Field

2007-06-14T23:21:00.000-04:00

Well haven't posted in a few days, so let's give it a go shall we. What has happened.........Oh yeah, I got stung in the face by a sea whip. That was pretty cool. I still have the marks on my face and neck, but you can't tell it in any of the pictures. What had happened was.......we were filming one of the octopus trials, in which you basically have to lie flat on the ocean floor while filming. I observed Dr. Bouwma, aka "Dancing Pete", contently lying in a bed of sea whips while filming- soooooo I figured it would be o.k. to follow suit. NOT A GOOD IDEA! Now Pete bears a similar mark on the back of his neck and his knee.

Thursday - Where are we going and why are we in this handbasket? We have had some great weather lately in the Keys - sunny skies, calm seas, etc. Today I found out just how quickly that can change. Went underwater with sunny skies, emerged into a typhoon. I LOVE THE KEYS! I actually really do love the Keys, it's just that a long boat ride into a stinging rain is no so much fun. We did salvage the day though after the rains subsided. Michael twisted both our arms and made us go fishing! I really do enjoy getting to show off some of those freshwater "bass fishin" skills! And I hereby formally apologize to Pete for catching more fish than him. Pete, I'm sorry.

New Digs

2007-06-14T22:11:00.001-04:00

Here are some pictures from the new house at the end of long key lakes drive. Not too bad.

First Days in the Field

2007-06-13T22:47:00.000-04:00

Well, after spending a few days fixing the baitwell pump in the boat, fishing, and teaching the new guy what a lobster looks like and, more importantly, how to coax it into the net without looking like a total moron, we have finished our first four sites in the field. The first two sites were on the bay side of Long Key, near the Outdoor Resorts former trailer park land. We couldn't have asked for nicer weather, flat calm water, excellent visibility, shallow water - two great days on the water.
In the water we found 3 Octopus near ODR and poked them with a stick. While this may seem a bit cruel or unnecessary perhaps, we are trying to test how they respond to this sort of threat. Most of the octopus seem to like the stick and most didn't want to give it back. We got lots of great videos of the octopus valiantly trying to pull the tickle stick out of TJ's hands. Fortunately we managed to get the stick back, so far. . .
I also spotted a small school of Caribbean Reef Squid hanging out by our transect lines. They were a bit concerned with the large, hairy, bubbling object shooting pictures of them, changing colors rapidly and threatening me with their tentacles. Not bad for a 4 inch long cephalopod.

Today, we made the long trip down to Bamboo Key off of Marathon, near where we took TJ yesterday for his first Lobster Reuben sandwich at Keys Fisheries (waddling out later with hands placed contentedly over extended stomach). This was a full day - no holds barred, two full sites. We caught about 70 lobsters, 14 Octopus, and a few rashes (sea whips wrapped around the neck while trying to video an octopus try and yank a ticklestick out of TJs hand). Yes, 14 Octopus, almost as many as the Childress picked up all last summer. TJ appears to be some sort of good luck talisman when it comes to locating large numbers of octopus.
Tonight, we went over to KML for a birthday party for Daniel Poland, aka "The Swede", his thirtieth. On the way over, we stopped at the quickstop for an excellent assortment of random gifts for Daniel including an R-rated beer coozy and quick-drying-odor-reducing-urine-powder (turning thirty apparently is only one short step from incontinency). A good time was had by all. Tomorrow, Lignumvitae Key!

Let's go fishing

2007-06-10T22:24:00.001-04:00

Today's forecast was for sunny skies and calm seas, so as all good researchers do we decided to go fishing. First off we decided to hone my newbie skills at lobster catching. Though all did not go exactly according to plan, it did go fairly well. After about an hour we are all cold, except for Mr. Freeze (aka Pete Bouwma), so we decide to call it a day and go fishing. What a day!!! We go a few miles offshore and almost immediately find a small school of mahi, one of which opted for a much cooler climate inside our freezer. We had multiple hookups, usually ending with Dr. Pete scolding some poor fish for not properly following the correct de-hooking procedure. Man, does this guy take higher learning to the max! Anyway, we had a blast and I must give credit where credit is due - it was our fearless leader Michael who caught the mahi who now resides in our freezer. We ended the day with some bottom fishing on a small patch reef, where I battled wits with some grouper. You win some, you lose some. All in all, a great day on the water with good people. Tomorrow is Monday....now the real work starts - aaaaarghhhhh!

First fish of the summer

2007-06-09T23:34:00.001-04:00

TJ gets the first fish of this trip. Unfortunately, he had to throw his back. My first fish (a nice snapper) will be part of dinner tomorrow - just thought I would mention that.

Breakfast at Little Italy

2007-06-09T15:01:00.000-04:00

So, we walk to a place next door for breakfast at about 11:30 am. The name of this establishment is Little Italy. I hear all the old "war stories" about this and other places along the way, which supposedly helped pass the time for the 18 hours we were all in the truck. Our second in command, Lieutenant Bouwma as he prefers to be called, is so exhausted from lack of sleep and comfort in the spacious back seat of our vehicle that he automatically adds cream to his ice water and takes a big swig of his coffee. The mahi sandwich was really good, but I overheard the mayor of the town saying how bad the fries suck!

Beginning of the Expedition

2007-06-09T01:01:00.000-04:00

3:00 AM, Day 1: I finally get to sleep, having massively underestimated the time it was going to take to finish packing, clean the apartment, wash dishes before leaving (no roaches this time upon my return!).

7:30 AM: I leave the apartment for campus after 4 refreshing hours of sleep. Ironically I talk to neighbor in parking lot, who complains about excess roaches in his apartment. “Like small dogs. . . “ he says.

8:00 AM: I stop for coffee a Jittery Joes, redeeming punch card for most expensive coffee item on the menu, the infamous “Crackachino” w/ no fewer than 4 shots of espresso. Life is good.

8:30 AM: Tumbler drops in door lock to lab, locking me, increasingly frantic and un-caffeinated, outside of the lab. The key, which worked minutes before does so no longer, placing a heavy door between me, the field gear which I need to start loading on to the truck, and more importantly, my coffee. TJ arrives, his key also does not work. Fortunately, the master key does and disaster is averted, but time of departure is pushed back.

9:15 AM: Gear is loaded and the expedition begins! Michael – “Are we there yet?” . . . First indication that our fearless leader might be somewhat delusional, or just have a sick sense of humor. This is going to be a long trip. . .

9:30 AM: The boat is picked up from the EnTox facility. I notice that the ball of the trailer tongue is loose. Trailer ball is tightened (with what appears to be almost excessive vigor) and over the next few hundred miles Michael tries to erase the images of the boat, no longer tethered to the hitch by the aforementioned loose trailer ball, bounding merrily after the truck on the highway at 70 mph. TJ immediately falls asleep in the back with all the equipment that could not be stored in the truck bed – this appears to be a comfortable position. I decide to try it myself.

1:30 PM: I take over driving for a bit. The afternoon deluge hits. Rain is pretty intense. I keep an eye out for pairs of animals two by two crossing the highway. Michael is just glad he remembered to wrap his bag in plastic at last stop – meaning that he will have dry underwear when we get the keys.

3:00 PM: Our massively long truck, boat, and human rig stops for gas and sustenance. Michael, who fortunately did not forget about the trailer ball, checks for the 4^th time and finds that it turns in his fingers. TJ’s lack of wrench-turning strength is immediately ridiculed. Ball is tightened again and we are on our way.

5:00 PM: We stop again, trailer ball is loose again. We start looking for an establishment that sells trailer balls in St. Augustine, FL and is open late on a Thursday.

6:00 PM: We found what may be the world’s most expensive 2 inch trailer ball. Made out of solid platinum, or something, apparently justifying the its $45 dollar price tag. Turns out the old ball had threads too small for the receiver and the lock nut had been wrenched inside the hole in the hitch, rendering it useless. New ball fits nicely. We all gather ‘round, gaze upon its beauty, and hope that this is the last time we have to stop for this crap.

9:30 PM: We stop to feed the thirsty truck. We are all assailed by bugs, but particularly Michael, who has to stand by the truck to pump the gas. This particular gas station supports a particularly diverse group of insects, few of which are the same species, but all enthusiastically charging up Michaels shirt, nostrils, hair, etc. We leave gas station for the next exit for dinner, hoping it will be less ecologically diverse.

12:00 AM: We enter the land of tolls and engage elderly toll booth operator who inquires whether we are going fishing. Yes, replies our fearless leader. “In all this rain?” she asks. “Yup,” I say, “in all this rain at MIDNIGHT!” No, just a second, that is what I thought – we just nodded politely and got the heck out of there. In the land of tolls, we meet many types of tollbooth operators: Very slow elderly gentleman, very slow elderly woman, weebles, arithmetically-challenged axel-counter, and at last, a competent operator. . . with 9 miles to go on the Turnpike.

2:00 AM: We enter the 18 mile stretch. TJ finally wakes up, “Are we there yet?” Conveniently, all the construction crews have waited until the wee hours of the morning to put up construction cones for me to drive through.

3:00 AM. We are 10 miles from the Keys Marine Lab, our final destination and get stuck behind a wide load (half-a-house) going through a construction zone. Driver is conveniently knocking over every cone into my path to weave the boat through. This is not a particularly welcome development.

3:30 AM: We arrive at KML and are greeted with a warm, humid dorm and a turd in the downstairs bathroom. Air conditioning on, turd evicted, and to bed we go! Home, at last. I leave you with a picture from the marina dorm looking out over Florida Bay with a storm rolling in our first day.

Field Research Blog Start

2007-05-21T19:22:00.001-04:00

I started this blog to document this summer's research for the Childress lab. We leave for the Keys on June 7. Hopefully this format will be easier for all members of the research team to update, including: Dr. Michael Childress, our fearless leader; Dr. Peter Bouwma, postdoc and fearless leader when Michael is gone; Tim Jordan, aka. TJ, aka. the new guy. Until then, this post will serve to fill space on this page.