Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, corals, guest lecture, Jo Blasi, Nick, Oriana, Randi Rotjan

Did you know that Anthozoa means "flower animal" or that corals have symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae inside of them that give them much of their color? Dr. Randi Rotjan knows this and so much more about corals. She is a coral reef research scientist/Principal Investigator at the New England Aquarium. She was SEA TURTLE's first guest speaker at Wednesday's night class.


Dr. Rotjan describing the structure of corals.

Dr. Rotjan's journey on her quest to become a marine biologist/evolutionary ecologist took 15 years of post high school education. She explained that the reward for all this time and effort is being able to ask her own scientific questions and then use her knowledge, creative thinking and experiments to find the answers. She described the process as "CSI: Marine Biology".

I really enjoyed Dr. Rotjan's description of coral reefs...they are like underwater cities, with each coral analogous to an apartment building. The corals are the engineers, the architects, and the workers. No corals, no reefs, no reef creatures.


Reefs with and without corals

To measure the health of a coral reef, she will gather information by measuring things. Dr. Rotjan will set up a transect, a system for measuring a specific area and recording the animals living in that area. She will also photo document the site using underwater video equipment.


Randi using a transect

By doing this, she is measuring diversity, abundance, biomass and the general condition of the reef. The health of the reef can be measured by revisiting the site to see how the corals have changed over time. Dr. Rotjan traveled to the Phoenix Islands in 2009, and the good news there is that the health of the coral reefs is improving.


New coral growth

She says being a good diver, a good citizen, staying curious, challenging yourselves and others to find solutions and living blue are all ways to help the coral reefs. And, she cautions not to fall prey to shifting baselines, which means a failure to notice slow, chronic change around you.

For more information on Dr. Rotjan and her research, please visit the Phoenix Islands Expedition Blog and the Global Explorers Blog on the Aquarium's website.

I know one difference between Dr. Rotjan's research expeditions and SEA TURTLE's expedition - our mantra will be "eat-dive-eat-dive..." not "dive-eat-dive-eat"! I can't wait to get under water and visit the coral reefs of the Bahamas!

- Barbara

Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, Barbara, corals, Randi Rotjan

We started our fish identification lessons with brightly colored butterflyfishes and angelfishes. These will probably be the first thing that students notice when they begin their underwater journey in the Bahamas.

Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, angelfish, biology, butterflyfish, fish identification, Giant Ocean Tank, Sarah Taylor

You've got to give it to this group of SEA TURTLErs. Every Wednesday from now until April, they'll wake up before 5am, commute to ten different schools in MA and NH, take tests, go to sports practice and then, before even eating dinner, they are out the door again to come to the Aquarium for SEA TURTLE classroom sessions.


Barbara keeping a watchful eye over her dive gear.

For two and a half hours, the SEA TURTLErs are quizzed on weekly readings, watch movies as part of the PADI dive training program and explore group dynamics. After all, they will be living on a boat together for nine days over April school break.

We started our first Wednesday night class on January 27th. After chowing down on the exotic dinner of Oreos, microwave popcorn, some scavenged fruit salad and a few grapes, the teens learned about the basics of dive gear and had the chance to model some of their favorite buoyancy control fashions under the eyes of Barbara (since it was her equipment, Barbara's eyes were very watchful).


Evan modeling buoyancy control fashion.



Alex demonstrating how to descend under water.

The teens also learned about how to identify fish from our GOT that they will see in the Bahamas, like butterflyfish and barracuda (see other Aquarium blog entries about these fishes here and here). At the end of the night, everyone departed to their other life, one filled with homework and dreams of secret underwater communication.


Jane loving the feel of wearing dive gear for the first time.

- Jenna

Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, Barbara, barracuda, buoyance control, Butterfly fish, Jenna, PADI

What a sight! Ten teenagers and four adults standing next to a huge white van with fish painted all over it. A passerby asks us what we could possibly be waiting for, and we groggily attempt to explain why on earth we are up at such an early hour on a Sunday morning. Well, why you ask? For the first SEA TURTLE pool session of course!

My name is Jacki and have been a volunteer in the education department at the Aquarium for the past two years. I am absolutely thrilled about the entire experience of SEA TURTLE. I mean, really!! How many kids in high school do you know learn to dive but also learn about fish anatomy, listen to incredible guest speakers, and even travel to the Bahamas?! To prepare for this long awaited trip, our team of "TURTLErs" has been and will be attending pool SCUBA sessions and classroom based lessons.

Jacki in her snorkeling gear

On Sunday, with wetsuit, booties, flippers, mask, and snorkel in hand, we made our way to the pool. Despite the early hour I had to wake up on a Sunday morning, my energy level sky rocketed when we walked into the pool area. Never having worn a wetsuit before, I was so pumped to hop in the water!

Jacki gives a wave while trying out her gear

The absolute best part of the day had to be the sea shell collecting races Sarah organized. After practicing our "blasting techniques" with the snorkel on our own, Sarah challenged us to test our swimming and diving techniques by having us dive for sea shells. She sunk a variety of sea shells she collected in the Bahamas in the middle of the pool. Our challenge: to collect the most shells. On her mark, our two teams raced to dive to collect the shells! I kicked as hard as I could, spotted a nicely situated shell, took a deep breath, and dove straight down to snatch it. With just enough breath left, I "blasted" my snorkel at the surface, and raced to touch the pool wall first.

Jacki (second from left) and the other "TURTLErs" get ready for their giant stride.

Finally, after lunch, we geared up in our wetsuits! I took my first "stride" off the edge of the pool deck. Then BAM, I floated! It was such an awesomely weird feeling being so buoyant in the water without needing to tread. Shouldn't I start to sink? Now I can't wait for the next pool session where we will be suiting up with ALL of our dive gear!

-Jacki

Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, Jacki, scuba, snorkels, teens

My name is Oriana. I have been working in the New England Aquarium's Dive Department (which oversees the Giant Ocean Tank) for almost two years now. Every day, I walk in there I think, "When will it be me? When will I be able to explore under the water?" Each day I pined for that opportunity. Now my dreams of diving are within reach.

I, along with nine other students took our first giants strides to becoming a diver into the MIT pool (watch video of our giant strides here). This was our first day of training to get certified. The swim test was, contrary to my belief, not so bad. It was a lot easier than I expected.

Our next event was learning how to snorkel. I am sure many people have had this sensation before, being able to see underwater, maybe even with a snorkel.


Oriana gets that first look underwater.

However, to me it was not only that, but a realization and relief that I've done it! I got accepted to SEA TURTLE and made it past the swim test and with my first underwater breath, I thought, "I did it!" That moment was probably the most rewarding one of the day. After that, we learned how to clear our snorkels and pick up shells at the bottom of the pool.



Oriana having fun during the shell game.

We took a break for lunch (I never appreciated food so much!) and then we put on our wetsuits. All of us of squeezing into our wetsuits was quite a sight. We looked like small undercover spy kids about to go on a mission. Our suits made us positively buoyant in the water, which was quite a sensation. After our first big stride into the water, I anticipated the usual sinking of my body down, however my wetsuit caused me to stay up. We all bobbed in the water together and tried to swim threw hula-hoops at the bottom of the pool. The day progressed with us becoming more and more familiar with our suits and with us learning to control ourselves under the water. At the end, I didn't know if I wanted to keep swimming forever or fall fast asleep and never move again.

I can't wait till next time!

- Oriana

Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, Giant Ocean Tank, giant stride, Oriana, snorkels

My name is Isaiah. On Sunday, my first impression of the swim test was that I was not going to do as well as everyone else would. I was very nervous until it was my turn to swim.




When Jo announced that I had just two minutes left in the 10 minute tread, I suddenly got a charley horse in my right calf. With the encouragement (once again) provided from my SEA TURTLE team, I was given the confidence to make it through to the end. When the whole test was over, I was very proud of the accomplishment that I had just made. Thank you team for helping me make it through it all!


-Isaiah

Labels: 2010 SEA TURTLE Program, Isaiah, swim tests