Coral Reef Day (Monday, July 6)

We started the day by taking a visit to the "Oceans, Reefs, and Aquariums" commercial coral hatchery on the campus of HBOI. There were a few corals that made little grabbing movements that looked like little hands, and that was cool to see. We spent most of the day in lectures on coral ecology and disease, and had a lecture by Dr. Tom Eurell on his new coral surgery technique to remove the individual polyps from their hard cores.

The beach outside the Smithsonian Exhibit (we didn't get to go to the beach, just look at it)

In the afternoon we took a short field trip to the "Smithsonian Marine Ecosystems Exhibit" in downtown Fort Pierce, where they had a couple aquariums with corals and marine invertebrates. There was a "touch tank" too, and I spent most of the time we were there playing with sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, anemones, and little peppermint shrimp that cleaned the dead skin pieces off your fingers. There was a nice looking beach right outside the door, but we weren't allowed to stop in. Fortunately we have some free time scheduled this weekend so we should be able to make it to the beach at least once!

A snail sucked onto the glass of the coral aquarium

The coral reef in the Smithsonian Exhibit

Oh, and I saw my first manatee in the channel at HBOI today....it was actually a lot less exciting than it sounds--it really just floated there and then eventually disappeared underwater--I didn't even see its face, just the back bobbing in the water.

Manatee zone at HBOI