February 3rd-Life on Maria Island

Cora Layman. February 3rd, 2018

Today, we worked with a professional marine biologist to do a reef survey of the fish in an area of Maria Island. We got to gear up into wetsuits because, while beautiful, the water was fairly chilly. The group was divided up and each pair got to snorkel for a few hours to collect data. We were paired up along transect lines which we snorkeled along to record the identity and abundance of species in our specific locations. After I finished my transect line, myself and some others spent a few more hours in the water exploring for more fish and invertebrates. We found a beautiful orange and blue striped nudibranch, amazingly colorful anemones, stingarees, lobsters, and whole schools of giant and tiny fish. It was an incredible experience on a remote island. After the data collection, free snorkeling time, and sun-soaking to dry off, groups of us went back on land to do some volunteer work for the park rangers removing invasive thistles. I realize now how weak my arm muscles are, but it was so satisfying to see all the thistles that are potentially harmful to the beautiful Maria Island ecosystem getting removed by our group. It was an amazing day full of data collecting, volunteering, and exploring temperate kelp reefs.