Week 4 - Brook Olin

It's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun! The last month has been nonstop blood (mostly fish), sweat, and smiles. This past week at USFSP has been truly amazing!

06.04.19

Handling the Neuston net

Tuesday was quite the experience! It was Weatherbird day! We set out at 10 am on the 115 foot boat with nothing but excitement. The class gathered at the bow of the vessel to gaze at the water. We saw several dolphins, sea turtles, sea hares, and flying fish!

Hosing off the Bongo net

It took about four hours to reach station one. Once there, each four-person group was divided into tasks. My group was to handle the Neuston and Bongo nets. My specific task was to hose off the nets once they resurfaced, collect the samples into plastic bottles, and preserved the specimens inside.

Working to ID fish

Later that day, the dredge was cast from the stern and left to collect pelagic species for 20 minutes. Once hauled aboard, the real fun began: identifying the various species caught in the net. The group separated invertebrates and vertebrates to two areas of the boat with several people measuring, weighing, and identifying who the critters were. Truthfully, it was stressful. I was with three other students working with the vertebrates. Several fish were alive and our goal was to measure, weigh, and ID them in a short amount of time to ensure their survival. Most did not make it. However sad, it was interesting to see the life that lived just under the boat.

The worst part of ID-ing the organisms was the stinging. We had five-gallon buckets with specimens inside as well as hydrozoans. Their horrible nematocysts pierced through our gloves and lodged into our skin. For the first 15 minutes, it was tolerable. It was almost like the stinging your hand feels after it falls asleep. But after 30 minutes, it got much worse. My hands started to shake from the pain. I had switched gloves three times which provided temporary relief. No amount of hot freshwater, vinegar, or slapping our hands relieved us.

Station two was just the same, except dark. We reached the station around 8 pm and the process began again. The Neuston and Bongo nets were set, CTD bottles were launched, and the Otter trawl and dredge gave us our specimens.

My job was the same: measure, weigh, and ID the vertebrates in enough time to keep them alive. One thing was different: the ridiculous number of sea robins! Another student and myself counted so many sea robins! It was more fish than I have ever seen in my life. Of course we could not save the majority but few fish were tossed back.

We docked the Weatherbird at USF at around midnight. It had been a long day and my hands were throbbing from pain. Overall. it was the most amazing day of my life.