Working with LarvaeThis week we really got working on some Larvae collected from the TN401 cruise the graduate students took a couple months ago. Prior to working on the larvae that my project will be about, I needed some practice working with small larvae. We did a complete dehydration process followed by critical point drying. The dehydration process consisted of placing the larvae into small baskets and dropping them into different Ethanol concentrations until we reach 100% Ethanol. The larvae were already fixed and stored in 70% so I just had to place them into 85%, 90%, 95%, and three sets of 100%. This ensured that all the water and moisture was replaced by ethanol. The critical point drying process consist of placing them into a machine and purging them with pure Carbon Dioxide (CO2) until they are completely dry. Setting them up on stubs and sputter coating them are the final step before taking images on the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). When I started working with the larvae, I was a bit insecure about working with such small organisms but after a while, I got the hang of it. I ended up setting up five stubs with 5 different larvae from the deep sea cruise. Since the larvae were so small, the easiest way to place them onto the stub was by using the prick of a cactus taped onto a stick. This was actually a very efficient method for placing larvae. Collecting Sand dollarsOn Tuesday, Victoria, Dr. Emlet , J'mie, and I went on the smaller boat out to the open ocean to collect some sand dollars for Victorias project. We met up at the CMLC at 8 am and got the equipment ready. The four of us went out of the bay and Dr. Emlet conned the boat maybe a mile North to a marker on the boats GPS system that is known for having many sand dollar beds. We released a net that would drag on the floor of the ocean as the boat moved very slow. Doing this, we collected ~100 sand dollars which was way more than enough for Victorias project. We then went back to the bay and continued the day. I mainly helped pulling back the sand dollar trap back from the sea floor which was ~50 feet. Halfway through the week, I ended up loosing my phone in a spot where I know where it is but I physically can not get to it. Flynn, Catalina, and I were on the Jetty near the marina when my phone fell out of my pocket and fell into the depths of the rocks. At first I did not realize how serious it was and I thought I could just go look for it but after a few hours of trying I stopped. We heard the phone hit a few rocks on the way down but the spaces between the rocks are so small that I could not fit through. We tried to ping it on Find My iPhone but it didn't even show up on there which probably means that it was destroyed from the impact and the water. Oh well. I will try and get a phone by the weekend! Ive actually noticed that I have been more productive without a phone haha. Because of this, my blog this week is lacking some images but I will try and take some more soon. The week ended off with a fun boat trip with Dr. Richard Emlet where we went ~5 miles off coast from Cape Arago to dredge some organisms from the bottom of the ocean. The morning was a little cloudy and cold but the clouds soon cleared up and it turned into a great sunny day. Dr. Emlet sent the dredge down ~ 150 feet down and when we brought it up, we saw a bunch of animals. We got to see some Sea Cucumbers, Bristle Stars, Brachiopods, Corals, Sponges, Shrimp, and even a juvenile squid. We picked out some of the best looking ones and put them into buckets which were then placed into a water table near the Emlet Lab. I really enjoyed the morning and talked to the boat captain Newt for a bit. He was talking about how he has been working in the ocean for over 40 years and a few stories of being on a vessel in the midst of a huge off shore storm.
I have been greatly enjoying my time at OIMB and excited for the next couple of weeks to get my project started and being able to focus on the science!
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AuthorHello I am Ytxzae Enriquez I am originally from Las Vegas, NV but have been living in Santa Barbara for a while. I just graduated from SBCC with two AAs in Biology. By the end of my career at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) I really got into the Earth Sciences and I will transfer to University of California: Santa Cruz (UCSC) this Fall as an Earth Science/Ocean Science B.S Major. I really enjoy Surfing, Rock Climbing, Skateboarding, and going on super sick hikes. Archives
August 2022
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