Emma is a former Giant Ocean Tank Dive Intern on her first collection expedition to the Bahamas. She joined Aquarium divers to help collect fish, under special permits, so that visitors in Boston can appreciate the splendor of a healthy Caribbean reef. These fish will live ing the Giant Ocean Tank after its top-to-bottom transformation.
We started off day four with a delicious warm breakfast made by Chef Chris, then quickly got underway with a deep dive to search for sargassum triggerfish. This dusty blue species of triggerfish lives in the lower region of the reef environment, so we dove to a maximum of 93 feet (too deep for my camera) to try and catch a few. Deep diving is interesting, even though you’re below almost 100 feet of water, you can barely feel the difference between that and 20 feet of water. While the staff was working on the triggerfish, my buddies and I enjoyed our first deep dive in the Bahamas.
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| Safety stop on the anchor line after our deep dive | Photo credit: Captain Lou |
The team traveled back to the dive spot from yesterday, Lunkers Head, to try and collect more blue chromis and creole wrasses. The creole wrasses have been the prize of the trip! Just from this day, we totaled 37 blue chromis!
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| Blue chromis and creole wrasses in the collection tank | Photo credit: Russ |
By showing visitors the beauty of a healthy Caribbean reef, the Aquarium hopes to inspire people to do what they can to protect these reefs and marine habitats around the world.
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