IT FINALLY HAPPENED! Hey guys welcome back! One of my dreams since learning about what lives on the reefs, has been to see a lemon shark. Lemon sharks (Negaprion brevirostris) are slim sharks that can maneuver around the nooks and crannies of the reef to catch prey. What is really cool about these sharks is that they hunt in the dark using electroreceptors in their heads to detect the pulses of their prey. Today I accomplished my dream within the first 3 minuets of our morning swim! Since I came late today was my first morning swim around the reef. My professor said that I should stay at the front so I had more of a chance to see things. Then we stuck our heads in the water and there swan a lemon shark maybe three feet in front of me. I was awestruck! I cannot believe that I saw a lemon shark in person! (unfortunately I did not have a go pro) It looked just like the google photos but so much better. With suck a wonderful stat to the swim it was no surprise that the rest of the swim would be just as incredible. we saw several turtles and one swam right up under me. There were so many fish and rays that were hustling around. Seeing parrot fish in person up close has been so surreal. Their colors are so vibrant and breath taking that I cannot help but stare at them forever. the swim ended as we swam through a ton of small cone jellyfish and plankton. After the swim we had breakfast and went over the plan for the day. Today we were at the outer reef. We met at the touch tank at 10 and walked down to the dock to catch a small boat that took us to the outer reef. Once we got to spot the boat anchored we strapped on our gear and fell backwards off the boat. (I'm in the pink fins) The outer reef had so much more diversity than the inner reef and reef patched. I saw soft coral, hard, coral, pink, blue, purple coral. There were tons of different fish ranging in all sizes. Here I saw two white tipped reef sharks. These slender guys can easily catch prey within the reef at fast speeds. I CANNOT BELIEVE I SAW TWO SPECIES OF SHARKS!! when we finished at the outer reef we headed inland for some RNR and to study for our fish ID test. I was convinced that I would not pass as I guessed on a lot... but I got a pretty good score! The we worked on our labs from yesterday before dinner. After dinner we finished the labs and now we are all about to play a game of among us so peace out guys!
See ya tomorrow Taylor
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AuthorTaylor is currently a senior at Utah State University studying environmental studies and biology. Taylor has always loved the ocean and plans to attend Western Washington University for a masters in marine ecology. Taylor first found a love for marine science as a child growing up in the Pacific North West. ArchivesCategories |