Dogfish Dissections

Aloha from the Big Island,

Many who hear the words dissection usually cringe. They tend to wonder who would ever want to place themselves in a strongly smelling, poorly ventilated room for hours, hovering, for hours, over a dead, preserved animal of some sort? However the source of some peoples disgust is the driving factor of others fascination. For those who are not into dissections my morning would have been very unpleasant to you. I on the other hand could not have asked for a better way to start my day than with the beginning dissection of a Dogfish Shark. 

*Note while discussing sciency things I will use scientific terms because I think it is important to learn new thing whenever you can and I would be depriving y'all of wonderful knowledge if I put things in layman's terms. So get prepared to learn some anatomy and shark parts terms!!!

Yes that oily stain on the paper is shark juice. If your not getting dirty your not
doing it right. 

My partner and I successfully identified the external anatomy of our shark who we have yet to name (just to let those of you who have never dissected before it is very common to give your specimen a name), and we sort of successfully skinned our shark from the dorsal (back) side to the ventral (stomach) side, just posterior (towards the tail) from the eye to just posterior of the pectoral fin in order to reveal the muscles we needed to identify. Although there were a few jokes about practically butchering the muscle under the skin and making some kind of bad shark sushi with our scapula. Sorry sometimes science humor is a little strange but I'm glad there are some of you who understand it...  

I thought I would share some some cool things I learned about shark anatomy :) you can use the shark sketches to give you an idea of where the part of the shark that I am describing is located. The first cool shark part is the spiracle. The spiracle is an opening posterior (toward the tail) and dorsal (on the back side) from the sharks eye. It is found on both sides of the head and is an incurrent water passageway, which leads into the mouth. It's purpose is in assisting in respiration. The second interesting anatomical feature of the dogfish shark is the Ampullae of Lorenzini. These are patches of pores found around the snout of the shark. They are sensitive to changes in water pressure, changes in temperature, electrical fields and salinity. 

One more cool things about dissections and then I will tell you about the rest of the days experiences. After a fellow group of classmates cut open the stomach of their dogfish they recovered an entire dogfish pup (baby), which was not likely her own, as well as two mostly digested fish heads, which were about the size of my hand. While this does not seem like a ton of food for a shark you have to understand that their shark is about 14 inches long. Therefore the amount and size of the contents of their sharks stomach amazed me! I apologize for the lack of dissection photos but will be sure to post some next Thursday :)

All I have to say is YUM!!!

On other things my roommate, Jen and I ventured to Island Naturals (the Hawaiian equivalent of whole foods, although on a much smaller scale) for a wonderful hawaiian lunch. I went for the hawaiian sweet  potato salad, which is the purple stuff, curried tofu, Japanese noodles, and fajita style chicken. It was all delicious but I could have had just a huge bowl of Japanese noodles and been extremely satisfied. They were amazing!!! Nothing however compared to my new favorite drink...Alo. It is this incredibly sweet, refreshing oddly green drink that I can't seem to get enough of. The strange part is that it has many alo pieces in it that float around but they are actually the best part and make a delicious pop of sweet fluid in your mouth when you squish them. To those of you who have never heard of it, all I have to say is you have to try it. I looked it up online and apparently you can get it at Whole Foods and Safeway... I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! :) 

On the island adventuring side of things Kanoe and I met another friend from our coral reef class out at Rainbow falls (it seems to becoming our new after school goto) for a swim and a few dives off of the cliffs. Today we also walked out to the edge of the waterfall. Viewing the massive plunge to the water below was a bit scary but the waterfall from such an angle was really cool. It was also a day that should go down in history because Kanoe taught me how to skip rocks and not only did I attempt it but I actually succeeded in skipping not one, but two rocks across the pristine waters. Now don't get me wrong the fist two rocks I attempted to skip quickly plunged to the depths of the water after making a dramatic splash. However after a few tweaks in my technique by Kanoe, the expert in rock skipping, who not only skipped his rocks marvelously every time but actually succeeded in hitting a rock wall about 40 feet away, I was able to get two skips in by two rocks!!

That seems to conclude my adventures for the day. 

Aloha mainlanders :) Till tomorrow

Secrets of the Big Island

Secrets of the Big Island 

Picture this...driving down a narrow, winding road with the ocean off to your right, violently crashing against the steep cliffs and the rainforest extending tall and thick to your left. Two magnificent forces of nature, both very humbling, guiding you along a small path to your destination. While to some this might seem frightening or unnerving, for me it was magnificent. As I drove along Hawai'i 137 in search of Kanoe (pronounced Ka-no-ee) and Nathan (friends from school) who were waiting to lead me to an incredible beach, I was privileged enough to travel along such a road. The trip to one of the only swimmable and sandy beaches on the windward side of the island was incredible but it was nothing compared to what I was soon to experience. After walking down, ok hiking/climbing, down a rocky path (without shoes of course) a extensive black beach with deep blue waters unfolded before me  and to my surprise many bare booties as well.

 Once I went through the initial shock of being on a nude beach, mostly because I had no idea that it was a nude beach prior to arriving, I began to take in the grandeur of the area. Cliffs reaching up all around us as huge swells washed up one after the other onto the black beach. As the boys tried their hand at body surfing, which they were excellent at of course, I absorbed as much of the ocean as I could. Floating upon the swells as they passed through, preparing to break upon the shore. When the sun began to set lower in the sky Kanoe and I went to explore a near by tide pool. We did not find much but had great time trying to click the camera a just the right time so we could get a cool picture of the waves crashing against the rocks. Let me tell you it was not easy!!! :)

 Once the sun made it clear that it was no longer going to warm us in our oasis we decided to chase it, moving north up the coast to what are known as the warm ponds.

The warm ponds were a welcomed treat after sitting wet from the ocean in the shade. Heated by the volcanic activity of the island, the warm ponds are a mostly natural area in which warm, freshwater bubbles up from the ground and cool salt water flows in from the ocean creating a brackish concoction. Here we spent the last hour before the sun went down warming up and avoiding being attacked by tiny fish, which seemed to really enjoy attempting to eat our ankles for dinner.

Ahalanui Park
Home of the warming ponds

I apologize for the short posting but I am exhausted from the sun, water and waves :) hard life I know. Hopefully the pictures make up for the length and tomorrow you will get to hear all about my fist day of Dogfish dissections. :)

Shoes are overrated...

Shoes are Overrated...

Aloha!!!

Today was my first day of classes and I could have not asked for anything better. My day began with natural history of sharks, rays and skates, in which we got an extensive briefing on our schedule before beginning lectures. In our class we go to lectures three days a week, preform shark dissections one day a week and then we have our lab. Our lab is undergraduate field work like you have never seen before. Every friday night we go out on a vessel, bait lines and begin fishing for sharks...yes, I get to go fishing for sharks every Friday night. Once we hook sharks, which are supposedly between 2-6 feet on average, we get them in a work area between the large vessel and smaller zodiac boat and then preform gender checks, which require turing the shark over and length measurements, then before releasing the sharks we tag them. I don't know how y'all feel about my situation but Im thinking I am in heaven over here. 

My second class while not quite as adventurous will certainly not disappoint. It is a tropical coral reefs class in which we are in class four days a week and lab every Monday. Oh and did I mention its called a wet lab...which means we go to the ocean and do snorkel labs for 4 hours. The best part is most of the labs require photographing marine organisms, so not only will I get to be in the water four hours every Monday, but my photography skills are sure to improve. I hope... 

Oh and I don't have class on Wednesdays...so thats awesome!

Now enough about classes, although they are going to be absolutely amazing!  Lets talk about explorations. 

Exploring the island to its fullest is one of my biggest goals. When I say exploring I don't mean your typical go to all the touristy travel book places either, I mean I am going to explore the Island the way the locals do and  let me tell you I am well on my way to doing just that. Having a friend who is not only a local but quite the explorer himself has made my first day of adventuring through Hilo a blast!!!  

For those of you who have been to the Big Island, you have most likely been to Rainbow Falls. A very popular location found in most guide books, Rainbow Falls is known for the magnificent rainbows that form in the mist of the raging waters after a storm.

Rainbow Falls
Hilo, Hawai'i

Most who travel here admire the falls from the lookout, posing for pictures and hoping to get a glimpse of the magical rainbows. 

Many begin the hike back through the magnificent canopy created by huge trees. 

I decided to take advantage of the extensive roots and vines
of the trees to get a birds eye view of the forest :) 

Some continue their hike back above the falls to find the falls and pools which feed Rainbow Falls.

 And very few experience rainbow falls like I did.... after climbing up a small rock face, through vegetation and to the edge of a 40 foot cliff, I turned around and climbed back down...Just kidding!!! I jumped, plunging into the chilly, yet refreshing water below. Did you really think I would pass up getting to jump from cliffs into the water? 

(Guess what Mom! I even remembered to take out my earrings before jumping so I would not lose them... again :) 

In the cultural shock department I only had one small lesson today... shoes are overrated, which I have been saying my whole life so of course I went hiking without them. I promise there is no better way to experience nature than allowing yourself to get right up in it :) 

There will be more adventures tomorrow, guaranteed! Since I have the day off and all. 

Aloha till then. 

King Kamehameha Day

Aloha from the Big Island,

Here is a fun fact: did you know that there are no hip-hop music stations on the Hilo side of the island? Locals protested the stations due to the content of the music. Now supposedly only native hawaiian music is available on radio stations. Some locals use huge antennas in hope of snagging a station from Maui.

It is an absolutely beautifl day here in Hilo the sun has been shining the entire day, which apparently never happens and it is around 85 degreees. Every window and door in our apartment is open, the island breeze is blowing through and hawaiian music plays softly in the distance. (I know what your thinking...She has to be making this up there is no way this could be real life. I am not making this up however and yes somehow it is real life.)

I have learned quite a bit today about the Hawaiian culture, hanging out with and doing P90X with my roommate (yes I know I have been put into the perfect housing situation) and her friend who are both natives. First of all I learned a bit about the history.

In the United States we celebrate many holidays such as Memorial day, Independence day, and Labor day, however I bet most of those living in the United States have little, to no knolwledge of why those days are significant. Being Monday you would think I would be eye deep in summer school work, studying all the information that had recently been thrown at me rapid fire like they love to do in summer classes, however today was a Hawaiian holiday. Today is one of the most important days of the year to Hawai'ians. Today is King Kamehameha day. Coming to school here I knew we had school off today for a holiday but I was unaware of the cultural importance of such a holiday. I was also unaware of how culturally educated those who live on the islands are. As I was walking around town with a newly acquired acquaintance I was educated on the importance of the day.

King Kamehameha was the one and only king who was capable of unifying the islands of Hawai'i. Before king Kamehameha was born the islands were all under separate rule and a bit turbulent. Legend has it that a seer predicted that the birth of the great unifier of the islands would be marked by the passing of a comet over the islands. Soon after the sighting of a comet over the Islands Kamehameha was born. He was ordered to be killed by the king of the Big Island but his grandmother and uncle took him away to the wilderness where he was raised and learned how to fight. Once he became older he unified all of the islands of Hawai'i being the one and only king who was capable of uniting the islands and maintaining a peaceful regime. As my acquaintance said "that is the story of the most magnificent king of the islands in a nutshell."

Second of all I have been introduced to some new words and hawaiian customs.

• The thing you push at a grocery store is called a wagon.
• The trashcan is called the rubbish.
• The highway consists of a 3 lane road in which the speed limit is 45 miles an hour and there are only a few stoplights. 
• Apparently Ross is the place to be if you want to see whats happening in Hilo.
• Marinating hotdogs in soy sauce and sugar is the way we do BBQ's down here.
• When driving by people you know you absolutely must give them the hang loose sign and an Aloha!

So there you are. My first day adventures in a nutshell :) 

Aloha until tomorrow 

Let the Adventure Begin

Aloha from the Big Island!!!!!

University of Hawai'i campus
Hilo, Hawai'i

Three airports, two airplanes, three screaming children and 10 hours after leaving Colorado...or as they call it down here, the mainland, I have arrive on the Big Island of Hawai'i. While I have been in college for a little more than two years now, I have found out that I have never actually left home. Texas has always been a second home and my parents only an hour and a half plane ride away. As I got off the plane at Hilo airport today I realized I am 100% on my own for the first time in my life. While it is a bit nerve wracking it is also exhilarating! So far I have had quite the adventure and it has only been a few hours.


Big Island Observations...

• First of all, don't ask for directions if you are not familiar with the area... the street names are all extremely long hawai'ian names which are impossible to remember and the locals give you directions based on landmarks anyway. I stopped four times in different places on campus (this campus is extremely small mind you) trying to figure out where I was suppose to go to check into the dorm. Finally after wondering around for about an hour... and having a slight freak out thinking I was never going to figure out where I was gonna sleep, I found people and my dorm!!!
• gas cost $5 a gallon. 
• Flip-flops are called slippers. Don't call them Flip-flops or people will look at you like your crazy. 
• All the street lights and outdoor lights emit an odd yellow glow which makes it impossible to tell the color of any object being held beneath them. 
• I live 29 miles away from an active volcano. 
• Finally...It rains ALOT. So far it has rained four times in the last two hours. 

I have been to Hawai'i quite a few times and I have studied its geography and environment in multiple classes over the past few years, however it was not until today as I flew from Honolulu to Hilo that I truly appreciated the magnificence of these Islands. When Mark Twain described the islands he said they were"The loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean" he could not have used any more accurate words. Words will not do justice to what I saw today as I flew over the islands but I will attempt to give you at least a bit of insight into the spectacular world I have entered.

Diamond Head Crater
O'ahu, Hawai'i

Each Island has its own personality, or culture if you will. Each personality for the most part can be observed from above. As we departed Honolulu I was overwhelmed by the busy city life that consumes the shores and a large part of the inner island of O'ahu. Skyscrapers jut up from the shores of the island, thousands of houses consume the mountain side and the water is polluted with boats and  people. This is the city on the sea, New York of the Pacific ocean is the best way I can describe it. However the natural land is still visible... the scars formed by the islands creation still exist beneath the bustling city. As we flew to the edge of the island I nocitced a landform. Not just any landform but a huge volcanic crater, proof of the magnificent creation of the island. Volcanic craters are circular depressions around the vent where lava, rocks and ash erupt out of the volcano (Cain 2009). Just thinking that part of this island was created by that crater, which over thousands of years has dropped back into the sea due to erosion and subsidence (sinking), is a mind-boggeling undertaking.

Flying over the islands, below the low lying clouds, we continued on our journey form O'ahu over Moloka'i. This island is nothing like the last, other than its common origin of formation. Moloka'i has very few people living on it, most of which are gathered near the coast. As the brownish-red land stretched out beneath us I could not help but think of the surface of Mars. This island looked as if it was dominated by desert and craters.

Maui was our next beauty to admire. Vast valleys lined with vegetation, cliffs dropping off into the sea, there is nothing desert like about this island. Maui has more of the tropical rainforest feel. Being one of the younger islands its mountainous topography still dominates the landscape giving rise to magnificent peaks scarred from thousands of years of erosion, which has created a habitat fit for the explorer teaming with wildlife, waterfalls and wilderness.

Finally...really after a short forty minuets... we had begun our decent onto the Big Island. As we got closer I discover this island has decided to conceal its secrets from above, hiding its grand mountains, vast valleys and ever-changing enviroment in a layer of thick, white clouds. As we begin to lose altitude we were engulfed by the the clouds. Nothing but a white could be seen and then finally we broke though, the deep blue Pacific ocean welcoming us. With the Island still out of sight it is the clouds that we just flew through that mesmerize me. As rain falls from the clouds into the ocean the sun reflects off the falling water creating sheets of the most magnificently colored rainbows I have ever seen. Deep blues, reds, oranges and then yellows present themselves as the light is reflected off the water droplets and dispersed. Distracted by the rainbows I was surprised when we made contact with the ground with a slightly startling jolt. The clouds left me with just a taste of what I have to expect from the Big Island and I am eager to discover what lies beyond them.


Aloha

World Ocean Day

CELEBRATE WORLD OCEAN DAY

Coral reef off the Kona coast of Hawai'i that I took while
SCUBA diving down there over spring break. 

Hi Everyone!

I am still in Colorado, two days until I leave for Hawai'i, but just because I am momentarily in a land locked state does not mean I can't begin to unleash my marine scienceness on y'all. As you all might have guessed from the title of todays blog June 8th is a huge day for our oceans. It is a day that should not only be celebrated by those who are involved with marine science or live by the ocean, it should be celebrated by all people of the world because the ocean is a vital part of all of our lives whether we realize it or not. 

Our oceans cover more than 70% of the earth surface and provide a large number of environmental services. The ocean provides humans with food, absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere so we are able to breath, sustains climate and temperature through its current patterns and it even provides us with a portion of the oxygen that we breath, therefore even if you do not live near the ocean you are attached to it in some way or another. These reasons and many others, in my eyes, gives everyone a wonderful reason the celebrate the ocean today on world ocean day! 

Magnificent coral outcropping. The pastel colors are due
to the early morning sun shining through the water at
a different angle. This too was taken off the Kona coast. 

I could use this space to tell you all about what the ocean does for us and how we need to celebrate it but I know that I would get board reading all those words so I have decided to post a few videos. Hopefully they will help y'all understand what the ocean does for us and share with you images that help you understand why I am so enamored by the ocean. 

The first video is from the National Geographic website. I have the site set as my home page when I open the internet...I know kinda dorky... but the ocean portion of the site is absolutely amazing! (along with the rest of the site of course) National Geographic has yet to fail in amazing me.  It is constantly updated with the latest discoveries, explorations and of course incredible photographs pertaining to the oceans. I highly recommend checking it out if you have time! :) The video is a little odd because it is a promotion for a group but I thought it was very informative as well so I hope you enjoy it! 

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/environment/habitats-environment/habitats-oceans-env/why-ocean-matters/

The second video is from TED talk which everyone should get excited about because it is an incredible website with thousands of incredible videos. The speaker is Enric Sala and in his video he describes how we can begin to restore our oceans to their natural state and shares the economic benefits of doing such restoration. This video is a little long but if you have time I highly encourage you to watch it! :) There are also many other ocean TED talks done by many different scientists that you can check out if your interested. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/enric_sala.html

Let me know what you all think about the videos and if there is anything else you would like to see in my blogs :) I promise it will get even more interesting once I am actually in Hawai'i. 

Aloha and don't forget to celebrate the oceans! :)

Works Cited (Not very interesting I just want to be sure to give credit to those who I get my facts from)

To those who give me my facts

Cain, Fraser. 2009. Volcano Crater. Universe Today. Accessed June 11, 2012. http://www.universetoday.com/31143/volcano-crater/

Fischer, John. 2012. Hilo Hawaii-Profile of Hilo on Hawaii’s Big Island. About.com. Accessed June 7, 2012.     http://gohawaii.about.com/od/bigisland/p/hilo_profile_a.htm.

National Geographic. 2012. Green Sea Turtle. Animals.nationalgeographic.com. Accessed June 6, 2012. http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/green-turtle/?source=A-to-Z.