Inland Seas Blog #2: The Little Things

Olivia and I decided that for our project it was necessary to have a "dramatic sail-raising" scene as part of our video. It was an excuse to have an over exaggerated repeating of commands and a little fun. I think we also subconsciously felt the pressure to do it ourselves. There was a certain sense that it is more legitimate for us to not need as much assistance with the sails. I found us asking each other for help (rather than the crew) more than the previous time we put up the sails. And we trusted what we demonstrated to each other. Maybe it was because we knew more about the sails this time. But I think it was something else too.

Inland Seas Blog #1: Introduction

Here on the Inland Seas, we are learning about the current issues with the Great Lakes. Our ultimate challenge is to engage our peers in discussion and action for sustainability in the Great Lakes. Our group is broken into four sections. The first group is focusing on the invasive species and their effect on the lakes. The second group is focusing on the pollution and how to prevent it. The last two groups are focusing on water quality and quantity to help conserve and make the lakes cleaner. During our trip we all will be taking videos and pictures to share our experience with others. We are also doing a lot of hands on field research to better understand our issues with the lakes.

ACCA: Marine and Island Ecology course Day 4

After breakfast we headed off to the island (Warderick Wells) to learn more about the terrestrial plants of the Bahamas and island formation. We played in the water at Emerald Bay and then headed to the park headquarters for a look around. After traveling a short distance to Brad’s Reef, we collected data for our projects on a reef located within the park. Cambridge Cay was our next destination at the south end of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. We snorkeled a reef in Cambridge Cove covered with live elkhorn coral. While on the reef we identified and tallied fish species found on this reef for the REEF organization. After dinner we hopped back in the water for our first experience for a night snorkel. The long-spined urchins were there to great us as we made our way up to the reef. All exhausted from a long day, we headed off to our beds.

ACCA: Marine and Island Ecology course Day 2+3

The exploration has begun! Yesterday was an action packed day full of island walks and snorkeling the beautiful waters of Allen’s, U and Leaf Cays. However today (May 16th) we dove into our research projects and started to collect data. All of our research projects are different from one another, but all of our investigations concern Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and Non-Protected Areas (NMPAs). The MPA we visit during the trip is called the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park. Today we collected data while snorkeling a reef outside of the park. Then we traveled to the park and walked up Bush Hill Cay for a breath taking view of the Exumas. Next we traveled to Little Wax Cay to try our hand using a seine net to collect animals (quickly surveyed and then released). We traveled to Warderick Wells were the park headquarters are located and moored for the night, anxious to see what tomorrow’s explorations had in store for us.

ACCA: Marine and Island Ecology course Day 1

Today we got a late start to our journey. Leaving Nassau, we saw some incredible sights. Giant hotels, large houses and magnificent bridges, showed us the enormous impact human activity can have. Once we got out in the open ocean things got a little choppy. We were all still trying to find our sea legs while we caught some rays (and some of us caught some z’s). We arrived in Allen’s Cays around 7 pm and listened to a lecture from our resident geologist Kelly Jackson. She taught us how the islands were formed and about the two different types of rock: Holocene and Pleistocene. Pleistocene is older and harder than Holocene, and it will ring when you hit it. After the lecture, we hit our bunks quite quickly to rest up for our busy day tomorrow.

A mother's work is never done

Here’s a fun word: oophagous (OH-ah-feh-gehs). It means living or feeding on eggs. For Mother’s Day, another Shedd mom is the strawberry poison dart frog, Oophaga pumilio. Despite its evocative common name, this species comes in a rainbow of solid colors and interesting patterns, such as Shedd’s tan, yellow and orange polka dot varieties, known to biologists as color morphs. (And, of course, these bright hues are a visual warning to would-be predators that the bite-sized frogs are toxic.) But it’s little O. pumilio’s parenting behavior that is really attention-getting.

Amazing Amazon mom

We’ve got lots of moms at Shedd. The biggest is beluga whale Puiji (and her calf was the biggest baby at birth, weighing 164 pounds). The flattest might be the tiger ray in Amazon Rising. Tiger rays (Potamotrygon schroederi) must get their common name from their striped tails, because their disks have a dense pattern of small golden rosettes on a dark brown background.

Moms in the aquatic world

We’re thinking about moms in the aquatic world as we approach Mother’s Day on Sunday, but parenting is teamwork among some fishes, including two species of cichlids that live in rivers: quetzal cichlids of southern Mexico and Guatemala, and twinspot jewel cichlids, from West Africa. Each has fry that you can see right now in the Rivers gallery. The colorful quetzals have a swarm of tiny fry that the mom and larger dad round up on the back wall of the South America habitat. These doting cichlids give their offspring the scales off their backs, or at least skin secretions that the little ones feed on. They also herd the fry across the bottom in search of microinvertebrates. The parents crunch up larger food and regurgitate it to the babies. If any of the little ones stray on one of these outings, mom or dad will collect it in her or his mouth and spit it back into the group. You’ll also see another pair’s older offspring—several dozen inch-long fish—feeding on the bottom.

Beluga Calf Commercial

Check out Shedd's newest commercial featuring the beluga calf.

Posted by Joe Kantor, web editor

Shedd hosts Fantasea field trip

Fantasea field trip sweepstakes winners visited Shedd Aquarium for a day of fun. A first-grade class from Trumbull Elementary School in Chicago and a fifth-grade class from Jerry Ross Elementary School in Crown Point, Indiana, won field trips to Shedd Aquarium with football greats James "Big Cat" Williams and Garrett Wolfe. Check out photos of their trip:

 












Students from Trumbull Elementary School meet James "Big Cat" Williams.