Friday, October 9, 2009

#60: Our Reef Residents - Ari's First Day

I am back from my leave, and so very lucky to be here for Ari's first swim in the Giant Ocean Tank. It was a long road to recovery for her--almost 2 1/2 years from the time she was found on a beach in Louisiana to now.

I had the good fortune of being in the water during her introduction, and caught her on film, exploring the G.O.T. waters for the first time. How cool!

-Chris

Labels: Ari, Chris, Kemp's ridley, Our Reef Residents, sea turtle

Monday, April 27, 2009

#42: Dive Buddies - Meet Chris B

Being a Giant Ocean Tank (G.O.T.) diver, as you can imagine, is a dream job. Diving in the tank, however, is only part of what I do here at the Aquarium. First off, I got my start back in 2005 as a penguin volunteer, so I still visit them from time to time, and help out with daily tray tasks and feedings. It takes effort to remember who's who, as the colony is constantly growing, but it's very fun and rewarding.

I received in-house dry suit dive training back in 2007, so that I could partake in outside collecting and off-site collection trips. I had a wonderful time this past Fall, during our Eastport collection trip, where we gathered specimens for the tanks of the coldwater marine gallery, one of which is where our giant pacific octopus resides.

While not underwater in Maine, I am the supervisor of 23 volunteers and interns of the G.O.T., most of which dive in the tank. It's a very fun part of my job, for we have a nice wide variety of personalities, ages and nationalities. The majority of them are in only one day per week, so every day is different!

Other minor things that I take care of include departmental purchasing (everything from shark vitamins to tile & grout brushes for scrubbing the reef), management of our walk-in freezer (storage for thousands of pounds of frozen seafood) and maintenance of the G.O.T. anodes (which prevent the tank frames from eroding).

We divers, and the sharks and turtles that we take care of, are very popular with the media. I have been on TV more this past 3 years than any period previously in my lifetime, and even made it in the Sunday Boston Globe. This is me with "Chronicle" host Anthony Everett, who is feeding Myrtle the turtle after interviewing me for their Odd Jobs piece.

If you've been following our blog, you know that we like our holidays here at the Aquarium. October brings my favorite event of the year - Fish, Fun, and Fright! I rally as many divers as I can, including volunteers, interns, co-ops and other staff, and partake in the fun myself. In 2006 I dressed as a sushi chef and chased the fish around with my fake wooden knife. I think I may have scared some kids. Last year I dressed as an astronaut (here's the video).

Previous to my employment with the Aquarium, I was a fisheries biologist in Alaska, helping the National Marine Fisheries Service in regulating our fishing industry. It was a tough job, but the experience was life-changing. I spent many months out on the Bering Sea, ultimately leaving this job and ending up in Boston because I met a girl--my wife Emily.

One of my passions is long distance running, and have started and finished the last 5 Boston Marathons, as well as NYC, Seattle, Arizona, Maine, Outer Banks, Chicago and Philadelphia. I hope to progress to ultra marathons and/or triathlons in the near future.

Hiking is also a passion of mine. In fact, so much so, that I am taking the next 5 months off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with Emily. 2,655 miles through California, Oregon, and Washington. This will be my last post for awhile. If you want to follow our progress, you can access our personal blog via my profile page.

Happy Trails!

- Chris

Labels: Chris, Dive Buddies, divers, fish, fright, fun, interns, volunteer

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

#38: Our Reef Residents - AMAZING DISCOVERY!!!

A little known fact about the Giant Ocean Tank is that the entire reef structure is hollow and sealed off from the tank proper by a hatch, what we call the 'cave door.' We do this to prevent the tank's inhabitants from wandering up into that dark and creepy place. Periodically senior dive staff enter this cavernous space in order to do various maintenance tanks (see a future blog entry for more on that!), but it's not a place for the faint of heart. (Nor the untrained!)

So imagine my surprise when I opened the hatch today and was confronted by the probing tentacles of a giant squid that must have been hiding in there for decades!!!

Luckily Chris was there to catch the monster on camera before it withdrew back into the inky darkness ...

Oh, wait...

Never mind...

April Fools!!!

(Sorry, but I had to do it.)

- John

Labels: April Fool's Day, Chris, giant squid, GOT, John Hanzl, Our Reef Residents

Thursday, March 12, 2009

#36: Our Reef Residents - New Green Moray Eel

Animal donations are a sensitive subject. We at the New England Aquarium make it a policy to not accept donations from pet owners. Some animals grow to an unmanageable size, and when this happens, some people unknowingly expect us to take their pet, which we simply cannot do. Also, never release a pet back into the wild. Its survival is unlikely and any released animals could spread diseases to local populations. Be responsible, educate yourself and do your research, and avoid any animals that will outgrow your aquarium.

Our newest green moray eel is an exception. He was a donation, but we only accepted him because he was a rescue. This is the story of how he came to find the Giant Ocean Tank his home. Dan D. and I made the trip out to Billerica, Mass. to catch the eel.

Out of his tank and into a temporary bin for the trip.

Loading him into the back of the Aquarium 4x4.

Once back at the Aquarium, he was transferred to a large pickle barrel and put into this large round tank behind the scenes for quarantine. After 30+days, he is ready for the G.O.T. Still inside his barrel, he awaits his dunk during one last treatment to ensure we're not infecting the tank with any diseases.

View from the top of the GOT. The barrel with eel laid on the bottom for 3 days, to allow him to acclimate to his new environment.

He wasted no time in coming out after I removed the barrel lid.
Many fishes were very interested in their new neighbor.

Here's me babysitting him while he explores his new digs.

After a few hours, he found a comfortable spot at the top of the reef.
He quickly learned to take dead food from the divers, as seen in this video.

-Chris

Labels: animal donations, Chris, Dan D., green moray eel, Our Reef Residents, video

Thursday, November 27, 2008

#21: What's Happening - Thanksgiving Day at the Aquarium

It's Thanksgiving Day, and what does that mean? The Aquarium is closed for the day. But wait, what about the animals? They don't know it's Thanksgiving, and they expect to eat like any other day, so it's another day at the office for a few select aquarists ... like me!

An atypical scene out on the front plaza - no people.

High-calorie foods like donuts are a must for a diver, especially on Thanksgiving when it's important to carbo-load in preparation for the evening's turkey feast.

Brian is a dedicated Monday volunteer who came in to help us out on this holiday. Here, he is showing off his shark food prep skills. Today's menu consists of squid (Note: the coffee is NOT for the sharks).

The dive team: Me, John, and Brian.

We decided to go for a pre-feed swim this morning, to scrub out the algae from the surface skimmer gutters. If left untended, it grows into thick mats...

... and as you can see from this video, Myrtle the green sea turtle thinks it's really tasty!

And of course, Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without tossing the football around.

As we all know, Thanksgiving is for overeating. However, our sharks ended up not being very hungry, as shown here by Markham's (our male sand tiger shark) complete disinterest in this squid I offered him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

- Chris

Labels: Chris, feeding, Markham, myrtle, sand tiger shark, Thanksgiving, video, What's Happening

Friday, October 31, 2008

#17: What's Happening - Costumed Divers!

If you weren't in the Halloween mood before, you will be now. Watch Chris the Astronaut defy gravity underwater!

Here he tests his balance and gets up close to the camera:

And here he gets up close with one of the Giant Ocean Tank's sand tiger sharks:

Labels: Chris, costumes, fun, halloween, video, What's Happening

#16: What's Happening - Halloween Costume Diving

It's my favorite time of year - Halloween! Each year, the Aquarium throws a party exclusively for members and their guests, called Fish, Fun & Fright. To add to the festivities, we carve a few dozen pumpkins and put the Jack-O-Lanterns into the Giant Ocean Tank around the reef with glow sticks inside. Myrtle and some of the angelfishes like it when we do this, as some of them find pumpkins tasty!

Many of the guests come in costume, so since we don't like for everyone else to have all the fun, we dive in costume in the GOT as well! It can be a bit tricky coming up with a costume that will work underwater. You have to consider the material, reduced gravity, being able to equalize your ears, entanglement, etc. We had seven unique and fun costumes this year.

Here is Mike as a clown, always a crowd favorite.

Don wore a Davy Jones (from Pirates of the Caribbean) mask, which he said prevented him from seeing much of anything during his dive.

Paul, for his costume, borrowed a vest and a hardhat from Turner Construction Company, who is heading up the construction of the New Balance Foundation Marine Mammal Center (coming Summer 2009).

Andrea's idea was to incorporate the SCUBA backpack into her costume, and was a Ghostbuster.

Liz (right) was a fairy and had a lot fun casting spells on the visitors through the windows. She won 'best underwater costume', as voted by all costumed divers. I (left) dressed up as a man on the moon, and walked around weightless-like on the bottom of the tank.

Sam, arrrgh, dove in as a pirate (with a fake sword I promise), and took 2nd prize.

Happy Halloween!

-Chris

Labels: Chris, fish, fright, fun, halloween, jack-o-lantern, member, pumpkin, What's Happening

Thursday, September 25, 2008

#11: Our Reef Residents - Receiving The Bahamas Collecting Expedition Fishes

Our fall Bahamas collecting expedition just wrapped up this week. One of the most challenging aspects of these expeditions is to get the fishes and invertebrates to Boston alive. After many hours of "packaging" them up, they were loaded into the cargo bay of a plane and flown north.

A little over 3 hours after taking off from Miami, they touched down at Boston Logan airport. It was then our job to get them unloaded, unboxed, unbagged, and into their holding tanks with cleaner water as soon as possible.

With over 300 animals coming to the Aquarium, and haste being a necessity, we formed a good-sized team of Aquarium staff, volunteers, interns and co-ops to perform this task. After a group briefing-slash-pizza party, it's off to the airport to go pick them up.

Once back at the Aquarium loading dock, all 46 insulated shipping boxes were removed from the truck and taken to the identification table, where experts Barbara and Sarah, 2 of the 3 expedition leaders, ID'd the animals and passed them off to "runners" to take them to their appropriate gallery and tank.

Because the water they live in during the flight deteriorates rapidly, tank water was slowly added to their bag while floating at the top to reduce the shock of the new fresher cleaner water. Once acclimated, they were released, counted, and marked on the tank glass to keep our census records accurate.

Most survived the ordeal, and are currently going through quarantine before they make their way to one of our exhibits, including the G.O.T. Welcome to the New England Aquarium new residents!

-Chris

Labels: Bahamas Collecting Expedition, Chris, Our Reef Residents

Saturday, September 6, 2008

#8: Our Reef Residents - Animal Acclimations

People often ask us how we get new animals into the Giant Ocean Tank (GOT). Depending on the animal(s) being acclimated, we use a variety of techniques including hidden cages, netted barrel corals, stretchers, pickle barrels, and floating pens.

Yesterday we added 5 new fish to the Giant Ocean Tank. These redfin needlefish, Strongylura notata, were collected during our Spring Bahamas collecting trip. They arrived in Boston on May 13th, and after 4 1/2 months in quarantine and growing up behind the scenes, they were ready for their new home.

The needlefish were transferred via bin and bag from their holding tank to their pen in the GOT.

We built a special pen for their acclimation, which we floated at the top of the artificial reef.

A pen is used for their acclimation, to increase their chances for surviving in their new environment. Without this protection, they could fall prey to some of the G.O.T. inhabitants.

After about a week, the webbing of the pen will be removed, and the needlefish will be able to venture out into the G.O.T. waters at their own will.

They will join the 6 redfins already living in the exhibit.

- Chris

Labels: acclimation, Chris, Giant Ocean Tank, needlefish, Our Reef Residents, redfin

About

The Giant Ocean Tank (GOT) is the New England Aquarium's signature exhibit. The tank is home to more than 630 individual animals representing more than 130 species. Several times a day it is also home to Aquarium divers who feed the animals, help provide medical treatment and clean the exhibit. This blog is written by those divers to give you the inside story on the GOT.