Chris, Scott and I were catching (or should I say re-catching) the fish from their tanks.

Jeremy was putting fish into the correct sized bags

Sean was running bagged fish over to get sealed off

Sherrie and Captain Lou were adding pure oxygen to the bags and sealing them off

The cowfish (above) and the barracuda are big, and can also bite through their bags, but layering cardboard between the layers of bags seemed to work for them.

All the boxes of fish made it safely to the Aquarium and will be in quarantine for at least 6 weeks to watch for any parasites that we wouldn't want to spread to our exhibit. After that you may start to see some of the more obvious fish go on exhibit ... the file fish, the barracuda, the cowfish. But be on the lookout for some of the more under appreciated animals, like the beautiful sponges, feather dusters and tunicates.

The participants on this trip have gone home. For staff the rest of the trip is mostly cleaning the boat and packing away all our gear.

I'm going through a bit of withdrawal from scuba diving and all the participants I've lived with for the past 11 days, so I'm going to ease myself off it a bit by posting some more short stories and great pictures from the trip that haven't made the blog yet over the next few days. So I'm not done yet, keep checking back.

-Bronwyn

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• 4 indigo hamlets (Hypoplectrus indigo at right) These fish have not been exhibited for several years at the Aquarium. Somewhat rare in the Bahamas, the fish we caught were first spotted by Captain John on a morning dive at Whale Cay, then retrieved later the same day. We all believe, of course, that the four fish were precisely the same fish that the Captain had seen four hours earlier.

• Two moray eels: a goldentail (Gymnothorax milaris at right) and a purplemouth (Gymnothorax vicinus). Both are about 12-14 inches in length. The purplemouth moray will be new to the Giant Ocean Tank in Boston. It was caught by our soon-to-be-married couple from the Netherlands, Marcelle and Bas. If they are as determined in their relationship as they were chasing fish, we have no doubt they will have a long happy life together.
  

• Three trumpetfish (Aulostomus maculates), which will complement the one trumpet now on exhibit in the GOT. The NEAq aquarists on board say this new quartet will hang well together--literally straight up and down -- delighting visitors with their ability to respond to visual targets (a small plastic green cup) during feeding time (shown at right).

• One cowfish, a juvenile, that we can't yet identify definitively. He's got horns, so we know he's belongs to the genus Lactophyrs. He's about the size of a quarter, now, and ultimately will grow to about a foot. He's destined for one of our smaller tanks in the Tropical Gallery until he's man enough for the GOT.

• One yellow stingray (Urobatis jamaicensis shown at right) headed for the new temporary "shark and ray touch tank" we'll be installing on the east side of the Aquarium this summer. There, he will be joined by coral catsharks and cownose rays already in holding tanks back in Boston. We were careful not to take a female also seen off Bimini because she was pregnant with pups. Kids visiting the Aquarium will love this new touchtank.

• Two basket stars (Astrophyton muricatum), fascinating invertebrates with intricate branching arms that fold up during the day and open at night, when they are used to filter plankton. This species can often be found on fan coral. We're not sure yet where they will be found in our galleries in Boston, you will have to come on down to find out!

• Five red snapping shrimp (Alpheus armatus), each about an inch long (how the other divers found these on the bottom beats me! As a new diver, I could barely find the bottom sometimes.) This species makes a unique clicking sound. Like the other creatures mentioned above, you can find them in the ocean in the Bahamas or the beautiful exhibits at the New England Aquarium in Boston.