We filled the cabin of the R/V Coral Reef II, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium’s research vessel. We munched on muffins and bagels and brought out a plethora of invertebrate identification books and began to study while we chugged towards our destination. The ten of us students were joined by our TA, our professor, and the head of the Marine Science Department at the University of Miami. Between those three, we knew we’d have a good chance at finding and identifying a good number of things (guesses ranged mostly from 90-220). Upon arriving at Soldier Key, our exhaustion was mostly gone, replaced by a sense of excitement for what we were off to do- explore a beautiful and pristine part of nature for the benefit of science.
“Thalassia!” came the first cry from the water. Turtle grass was officially our first observed species, followed quickly by various species of snails and crabs, until we reached the wreck.
Soldier Key was used as a rum running station during the prohibition. The wreck we saw was the remains of a barge that had sunk there during that time period. Schools of grunts and mullet swam past, unconcerned with the new school of large strange “fish” that had descended upon them. Closer to the dock, large rocks harbored any number of marine gastropods. And when you noticed one or two moving a bit more quickly than any other snail you’d ever seen, a quick peek identified the creature as a tiny hermit crab inhabiting a snail shell. We nearly spent the majority of our time hovering near the remains of the dock, where little schools of sergeant majors darted between rocks and snails vied for space in the intertidal zone.
A bit further out, Queen Conch, sea cucumbers, brittle stars, and sea urchins rested on the substrate or hid beneath rocks and in crooks and crevices. One guy caught an octopus as it sped away from its disturbed home. The person picking up the rock made another brilliant discovery.
“You guys are going to want to see this! Get over here with that camera!” yelled Dr. Dan Diresta, standing with our professor, Dr. Peter Glynn, and the two boys who had found the octopus and… surprise! Her eggs!
Absolutely magnificent, they were translucent, allowing us to see the developing embryos within. I snapped a few (closer to eight) pictures of the octopus and the eggs before we let her go. We continued around the island, fighting a ridiculously strong current by using rocks to propel ourselves forward. But it was worth it to find the beautiful corals on the other side. Having circumnavigated the island, we swam for the boat- and lunch.
Our species count grew as we scarfed down sandwiches and leafed through the myriad of books we’d brought, double and triple checking each species against two or three books at some points. Of course, it wasn’t completely necessary to have the books for some of the species. Dr. Diresta and Dr. Glynn are encyclopedias in their own right. While it was clear that they were making us make the effort to identify what we had seen or collected, they were on top of most of the identifications, being very familiar with some of the groups we were looking at.
Then we were back in the water. The currents were faster this time around, and going the opposite direction from the boat, but I’m glad we got in. We found a few mantis shrimp and some new sponges we hadn’t seen on our first run. An awesome find was a bunch of lobster hanging out under a coral head, and a Florida native in our group saw and identified a Loggerhead turtle fighting the current, just like we were. Our TA got a few great shots of some fish beneath the wreck of the barge. Then we hopped onto the Coral Reef II’s zodiac and headed back to identify our last few species. All species identified, we lifted anchor and headed home.
On our way back, we came to our final count for Soldier Key- 206 different species! We were about as proud as we were exhausted as we said goodbye to the crew of the R/V Coral Reef II and transferred all our stuff onto the RSMAS dock. For the University of Miami Invertebrate Zoology class, BioBlitz 2010 was a definite success.
-Cara Ruffo, Junior in Marine Science and Biology at the University of Miami from Chicago, IL
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