ARGGGGG-Chris Kurtz

This week was USFSP and the main portion started on Tuesday when we embarked on the R/V Weatherbird II for some offshore sampling. We used several pieces of equipment including the CTD, 2 types of plankton nets, an otter trawl and a dredge. While we caught and saw some interesting and unfamiliar things, the most impressive was probably the cushion starfish. Added bonus was that being on the ship really brought out my inner pirate.

Later in the week we visited the Florida Aquarium to conduct ethograms on some of the species there. My choice of species was a Caesar grunt, that I watched being overly aggressive towards  its tankmates for about 15 minutes. I've been interested in barracudas this entire trip so seeing them up close (although nothing compares to the keys) is always enjoyable.

For our last activity this week we created presentations based on analyzing data from the past Weatherbird excursions. The one Hannah and I put together was an analysis of species diversity using the SHANNON biodiversity index. We got some good critique during the peer review session, including advice on formatting and when to use certain equations.

Overall a very interesting week, sad too see it end all too soon at UWF!