Hello Everyone!

Every year, it seems we encounter at least one Nassau that appears different from any other we have seen before. Last year, it was a fish named Hula, who had a black belt-shaped pattern around the center of it’s body. The year before that was a grouper named, Lucky, who had a huge bite taken out of its back, yet appeared to be fully healed and happily partaking in the year’s spawning festivities. This year, we have found yet another Nassau that is unlike any we have encountered before. Take a look and let me know what you think!! We have not come up with a name for this grouper, so if you have a suggestion, feel free to

leave a comment!

Hello Everyone!

On tonight’s dive at the aggregation site, we saw a beautiful Hawksbill Turtle. Hal was able to get some great footage. Check it out! Also, can anyone tell me the name of the other common turtle in the Caribbean?

Take a look at all these grouper showing up at the aggregation site! This video was taken today by Grouper Moon researcher, Hal Peterson!

Greetings Future Scientists!

Students from the Renaissance School of Art and Reasoning in Sammamish, Washington inquired yesterday about the graphs Grouper Moon scientists use to study the fish count data. Below are a few graphs sent to me by Lynn Waterhouse, graduate student from the Scripps Oceanic Institute. Can you figure out what these graphs are telling us?

On our dive this evening, we also saw some large, Great Barracuda! Hal Peterson was able to get some video of this one, which was probably about 4 feet long! Barracuda are SO cool, don’t you think?!

I was able to go on the evening dive today and saw a bunch of Nassau Grouper and a number of other fish. Two of the most prevalent species we have been seeing are Bar Jacks and Horse-eye Jacks. It turns out, many different species of fish come to the spawning site. Take a look at these videos taken by Grouper Moon researcher, Hal Peterson.

Hello Everyone!

Hello Everyone!

After nearly 24 hours of travel we have arrived on Little Cayman. I just got a quick update from a few of the researchers who have been here for two days already. It has been quite stormy here, which has made it difficult to dive on the aggregation site. In fact, the seas were so high yesterday, they weren’t able to dive at all. So, instead of diving, the Grouper Moon researchers when snorkeling in the lagoon, which is protected by a fringing reef. While looking for juvenile Nassau grouper, Brian Stock (Scripps graduate student) filmed the following, octopus. Check it out!!

Hello Grouper Educators!

Here is a beautifully illustrated life-cycle poster to use with your students. This is a great resource for your classrooms!

Nassau-Grouper-Poster

Cheers!

Todd