2012 Week 1

The organism I learned about was the nurse shark. Nurse sharks are located in the Caribbean, they can grow to be over 9 feet in length, and weigh over 300 lbs. They are very docile animals. They have thousands of tiny razor sharp teeth. I would love to see a nurse shark in the BVI.

Trumpetfish (Aulostomus maculatus) have long bodies and are very thin. They tend to live in shallow waters up to about 30 meters. They usually swim vertically in an attempt to appear like certain types of coral. Trumpetfish live in the warm waters of the western Atlantic, ranging from Florida to northern South America and from the Gulf of Mexico...

Boxfish The Ostraciidae, otherwise known as the Boxfish, belongs to the family Tetraodontiformes and is similar to the fishes that we know as pufferfish. Ostraciidaenare known for their box-like body shape that is formed because of its large flat scales, their octagonal patterns on their scales, and the form of defense that they use through toxins that are secreted through...

This past weekend, the class was asked to research ten organisms and then blog about one they researched. The one that I found most interesting was the sponge. The sponge has so many unique attributes that distinguish them from other marine organisms. These invertebrates have no circulatory, nervous, or digestive systems and are made of a jelly-like substance known...

The most common shark in the Caribbean in the Caribbean reef shark. The Caribbean reef shark has a stream- lined body with a large dorsal fin. It also is grey on top of its body and white under body. You can distinguish the caribbean reef shark by the rounded snout and a ridge running by the first dorsal fin....

The goatfish is a bottom feeding fish can be found in reefs and coral areas. The goatfish family contains 55 species, one being the spotted goatfish. It gets its name because, like goats, it will eat just about anything such as mollusks, worms, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. It has a pair of long barbs protruding from its face, which...

The green sea turtle is a very diverse turtle that belongs to the cheloniidae family and is the only species in the genus Chelonia. This unique turtle lingers around the tropical waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The green sea turtle have a tear-shaped carapace. This exoskeleton on the turtle's dorsal side gives it protection from multiple predators....

For my marine BVI organism I researched the green sea turtle. The green sea turtle can grow up to 5 feet and mainly lives in tropical waters.Their diet mainly consists of plants, squids, crabs,and other small sea creatures. The habitat of these sea turtles is different for the adult turtles and premature turtles. The adult green sea turtles mainly...

Here are a few action shots from our classroom portion of the 2012 Marine Biology Program! Great shot of some of our "Seniors" Working together on Invertebrate Evolution The World at their Fingertips... Exploring the Starfish Starfish Dissection Squid Dissection