8/25/13

Today I got to feed the Moon and Sea Nettle jellies by myself, along with the Kelp Bass, Red Abalone, Pipefish and Wolf eels. After the standard a.m. feedings, cleaning the tanks and being shown where a few things were we got to take egg samples from the California Spiny Lobsters. Both females had eggs and we needed to take samples of the eggs so that we could see how far along in development they were. So while another volunteer held down the lobsters, I removed a small clump of eggs from each and put them into separate jars. When we looked under the microscope, the larger female's eggs would need quite a bit more time, while the smaller lobster's eggs would hatch within three weeks. That was really cool. We also got a new baby sheepshead today and I learned that all sheepshead are born females but when they mature, the most dominant one will turn into the male. In other news Andres decided that we'd feed the Sea Nettles something a bit different than before. So I was sent to the Jelly Lab and brought back the biggest Moon Jelly I could find, chopped it up, and fed it to them. I will admit I felt really bad for it because it was alive and everything when he had me chop it up..... but circle of life I suppose. On a brighter note, I've found that I am quite fond of the Red and White Abalones they have. I get to feed the red Abalone and find them absolutely adorable and quite pleasant. And as for the White Abalone, I learned a lot about their plight and am very interested to learn more. For example, White Abalone are considered to be reproductively extinct in the wild because in order to spawn successfully, they need to live within 10 feet of each other. However, nowadays White Abalone are spread out over one hundred feet of each other, with only one or two living in that space. I don't have a mentor yet but I have a few people whom I'm thinking of, and I have two interviewees do far.