We often say that our animals get the best possible veterinary care. This is the kind of stuff that happens behind the scenes.



Physical therapy for a fish?! My thoughts originally, too.

Well, I have to say that this guy is doing much better after the regimen prescribed by our veterinary staff. It all started when we noticed a curve in the spine of our Atlantic needlefish. The vets examined the fish and decided the best course of action would be to plan a trial of physical therapy for vertebral compression. That meant the fish was pulled from the Giant Ocean Tank over a series of treatments and gently massaged.

Each time the fish needed a treatment, the divers would take it behind the scenes and place it in a pool that had been treated with a minor sedative. Charlis Innis, VMD, our head veterinarian, would gently massage its back in a couple spots—as you saw in the video. Between treatments, the fish would rehab in a pen at the top of the Giant Ocean Tank.

The needlefish in its rehab pen.

For a more in-depth understanding of the physical therapy process, I'm sharing parts of some emails from our Aquarium vets:

"Warm up of 15 seconds of dorsal-ventral movement at 3 points on body (due to length of body) and then 15 seconds of lateral movement at 3 points of body as well.  Increased to 30 seconds at each of the 3 points for both dorsal ventral movement and then lateral movement. Focus was then done on area of vertebral compression with 1 minute of dorsal ventral movement, 1 minute of lateral movement, then repeat. Ended with 2 minutes of dorsal ventral movement and 2 minutes of lateral movement. Animal recovered smoothly (was ventilating on own throughout procedure) and was placed in a floating pen in the GOT for holding afterwards."

That's definitely a lot of technical information. But in short—the treatments appear to be working! Today, the fish is looking much straighter. In fact, he's being released from the pen on Sunday, after five sessions. Just another example of the compassionate and top-notch care that our vets provide for all the animals at the Aquarium.

— Chris

We recently added a few new fish to the exhibit, including needlefish. These fish were collected during our spring expedition to the Bahamas and have undergone a routine quarantine in the meantime. But they look spectacular schooling at the surface. Here's the school from our perspective.



Visitors can climb to the top of the Giant Ocean Tank to take a look at these fish, too. It's not a stretch to see why they're called needlefish! These are some of the fish that we've collected eggs from before. See what larval needlefish look like.

Skinny little needlefish stick to the top of the tank.

Come by and see them sometime!

Thanksgiving is a time of traditions—turkey, football, family, you know the drill. Here in the Dive Department we have our own traditions. One that's taken root over the years is the holiday blog post. So in honor of all the feasting across the country, we give you feasting in the Giant Ocean Tank.


Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Fish in the GOT are frequently observed spawning, or laying eggs, and we have been hard at work trying to collect some of these eggs in the hopes of hatching them out. These baby fish, or larval fish, can then be raised up in special tanks to hopefully one day make their way back into the GOT as adults.

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Redfin needlefish | Photo: Floret's Guide

This is a redfin needlefish egg. The numerous hairs help the eggs attach to floating sea weed in the wild

After the first week the fish embryos started to take shape within the developing egg

The clear sphere attached to the fish's belly is the remaining yolk from their egg. The larval fish are unable to feed for a few days after hatching and must gain nutrients from this yolk

Pigment develops in the fish's eyes a few days after hatching

By the end of the second week twelve larval fish had hatched out of their eggs

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In the wild fish lay thousands upon thousands of eggs and only a small handful survive to become adults. With only twelve larval fish we may not have any that reach adulthood. But the lessons we learn now will help us become more successful in the future when working with this species.

Ripples, fish and corals at the top of the Giant Ocean Tank

These larval fish are behind the scenes, and it likely will be a long time before you would see them on exhibit. But you can look for the adult needlefish at the top of of the Giant Ocean Tank. They can dart around just below the surface, racing for a morsel of food or to scoot out of the way of hulking sea turtle surfacing for a breath. Plan your visit to the Aquarium this summer and get to know these fish and dozens of other species in this 200,000-gallon Caribbean reef exhibit!

Genevieve is a former intern from the dive department. She joined Aquarium divers in the Bahamas to help collect fish, under special permits, so that visitors in Boston can appreciate the splendor of a healthy Caribbean reef.  After a top-to-bottom transformation, the Giant Ocean Tank is expected to reopen in early summer with more than twice the number of fish than last fall. 

Needlefish | Photo: Mark Rosenstein

Needlefish are one of the most inquired-about fish in the GOT. They reside in schools directly on the surface. These fragile fish have long, pointed beaks, hence the name needlefish. These fish are too sensitive to be handled in the vinyl nets and live closer to the shore, so instead of diving to catch the desired fifty needles, the group does a beach seine.

Needlefish | Photo: Mark Rosenstein

In the afternoon, the group dove the Sapona, a shipwreck off the coast of Bimini. This shallow dive sight is home to countless species and individuals, making it a prime spot for the Aquarium collecting trips. Highlights of the Sapona include hogfish and varied species of parrotfish.

Hogfish | Photo: Mark Rosenstein

Hogfish are massive wrasses, that create a harem on the reef. This means that there is always a large “super male”, who mates with all of the females. If the super male dies, a female actually changes gender to take his role.

Queen parrotfish | Photo: Mark Rosenstein

Parrotfish vary in size and the different color schemes and patterns of each species make them a key target on the collecting trips since they're easy to spot in the Giant Ocean Tank.


By showing visitors the beauty of a healthy Caribbean reef, we hope to inspire people to do what they can to protect these reefs and marine habitats around the world. Thanks to Mark Rosenstein for sharing his beautiful pictures!

This is the third in a series of guest posts from Aquarium volunteer Sarah M. Winchester. She participated in the most recent Bahamas Collecting Trip. As our expedition leaders are gearing up for next Spring's expedition, Sarah chronicles her experience with the Aquarium in Bimini.
 
After a late night dive we were up and at it again early the next day. We started the morning with a beach seine. Andrea blogged about it here, so if you read about it earlier, you already know a seine is a technique used target needlefish and barracuda. With the net stretching over 100 feet, it took the whole crew to accomplish this task.


Barbara directing the group.




Deana on the “float side”


Steve and Don hard a work


The labor-intensive task was well worth our efforts as we collected three barracuda and many needlefish.




Barbara and Chris

We folded up the net and headed back to the boat for some more diving. No rest for us divers when there are fish to be had.

Like what you see? Join us for this Spring's expedition to Bimini, Bahamas! There are a few spots left.

Posts from the Sea TURTLE teen diving program will continue, but at the same time New England Aquarium staff and volunteers are on their regular spring expedition to the Bahamas. This is that team's sixth post, written by Andrea.

In addition to diving; we used a seine net to target needlefish and barracudas. The seine net is 100 feet long and has floats the top edge and lead weights on the bottom edge. Two people at each end of the net they would start walking perpendicular to the beach, then turn 90 degrees and start walking parallel to the beach. [This process is described in this previous post from 2010, as well as this post from the 2010 teen diving expedition and this 2009 post.]


Then they would start walking toward the beach making sure the lead end stays on the bottom. 

Everyone else would stand in-between the ends of the nets and the shore, and would splash to try to keep the fish from swimming out of the net. This was a fun job just standing around and splashing. I felt like Poseidon controlling the water and fish.


Once we got to shore we would pick up the two ends and form a hammock containing all the fish, and the upside down jellyfish. We would toss out the jellies because they could sting the fish and us. We had a very successful seine pull collected a lot of needlefish and three little barracudas. 


While on the beach we found a lot of trash; including some balloons in a tangled mess. While any trash in the oceans is not a good thing, balloons are especially dangerous when they land in the oceans because they often resemble sea jellies and can be eaten by sea turtles and other sea creatures.


Seeing trash on this little deserted strip of land that seems like it is in the middle of nowhere brings to light the importance of  how our actions (both good and bad) in our own backyards can have an affect way out here.

-Andrea

Although the anticipation of the start of the 2010 Bahamas collecting trip was killing me, there was a wee bit of pressure on me to stay healthy. My last collecting trip just 2-weeks ago, to the southern Bay of Fundy, was interrupted by the necessity to drive me to the Machias Medical Center in Down East Maine for a few staples in my head. What turned into a 3 hour nuisance for Bill Murphy and myself in rural Maine would have been a major ordeal in the Bahamas. If I pulled another stunt like that on board the R/V Coral Reef II, I would have dragged everyone along for a day-long excursion to a medical center in Alice Town, North Bimini--including Bill again.

Fortunately we all managed to stay healthy and, except for some skin left on the lower cabin ladder and the need for some decongestants, I can say with certainty everyone had an amazing trip.

I had no doubt that this trip would be amazing, but I didn't predict it would turn into one of the most rewarding professional experiences of my life. It started with three days of busting our butts: getting the holding tanks and filtration system ready for animal, and the boat ready for our guests. [Learn what it takes to get the boat ready by reading this post and checking out this post.]


Dave prepping the holding tanks of the R/V Coral Reef

The work then morphed into the cyclic routines of life on the Coral Reef II as we dived our faces off in one amazing coral habitat after another, then stuffed our faces with Orvis's great cooking. Capt. John provided the entertainment and Capt. Lou was the backbone of the ship that kept us all working together.

The trip then culminated in the 4-hour madness and frenzy of pack day starting at 2 am (yes 2 am!) and this was after a friendly meeting with customs officials at 11:30pm the night before. Needless to say we were all a bit sleep deprived but everyone stepped up to the tasks they were given and I couldn't be more impressed with the work that was done on this entire trip.

Oh, and did I mention we collected an amazing array of animals that I can't wait to bring back to the visitors of the New England Aquarium. 56 shipping boxes worth to be exact, the largest shipment in recent history. Thanks Scott, Suzanne, Sarah-O, Jill, Mike and Mariah -- great job!


Dave Wedge (photo courtesy of Sarah Taylor)

Highlights for me include the 100-foot seining tow we did in Cassiopeia infested water where we collected 2 juvenile barracuda and 11 needled fish. Needlefish are extremely delicate and we managed to deliver 11 healthy animals back to Boston, well done team! On one dive, Bill and I also managed to wrangle a 5-foot spotted moray eel out of its cave and bring it back to the ship (even though we were quite sure Sarah told us, "no spotted moray!"). Bill gracefully delivered it back to its cave the next dive.

Sam and I redeemed ourselves soon after by collecting a small 16-inch golden tail moray in the bowels of the cement ship wreck The Sapona. To top it all though was the cuttle fish we encountered. What an amazing creature to watch in its natural habitat. Outstanding! There were also two squid that tried to out-do their cephelopoduskin cousin by inking Scott in the face. This was one hell of a night dive despite getting lost on Bimini road.


Dave and Captain Lou

And of course working with the great people and friends I got to spend seven days living with on board the R/V Coral Reef II. I have no reservation in saying that anyone who considers themselves a SCUBA enthusiast should find the resources to take part in this trip in the future. It is an amazing opportunity to apply your hobby in a spectacular location, while working and learning to collect on a very cool research vessel.

All this while helping to bring a fraction of the world of the Bahamian ecosystem back to Boston, to teach our students and amaze our guests, it doesn't get any better than that. See you soon Capts. John and Lou, I miss you already.

- Dave

Today was our last full day in the Bahamas, as well as our last collecting dives. Tomorrow we will need to begin preparing the fish for transportation to Boston, a process that will take almost a full 24-hour period.


The wreck of the Sapona (photo courtesy of Bill Murphy)

Our first dive of the day was at the wreck of the Sapona. The Sapona was built out of concrete around 1910 when traditional building supplies were scarce. It ran aground in 1926 and has been sitting in about 15’ of water off the coast of Bimini since then and has become a thriving artificial reef.


Bill entering the wreck of the Sapona

Once we entered the wreck we all came up to the surface to look around – it is amazing from the inside, sort of like a rusty cathedral with reinforcement bars jutting out all over the place.


Scott and Dave at the surface, inside the wreck


The R/V Coral Reef II as seen from the wreck of the Sapona (photo courtesy of Mariah Shore)

A quick check-in with all of the divers and we went back down. The most noticeable thing about the wreck is the sound; hundreds – perhaps thousands of snapping shrimp like the noisiest bowl of Rice Crispies you have ever heard.


A Diadema sea urchin in the rubble


Sergeant majors come and go


A southern stingray near the bottom of the hull

I am not sure if it was because we were so shallow, but it seemed like this site was especially busy with life. Huge schools of sergeant majors and grunts, as well as needlefish and two different types of stingrays.


A christmastree worm on coral


Yellow stingray


School of grunts


Needlefish near the surface

Collection on this dive was very successful; Sam and Dave caught a goldentail moray, and Sarah, Bill, Scott and Suzanne caught an adorable pair of balloonfish!

Tomorrow is our last day in the Bahamas, and it’s a little bittersweet. We will do a couple of dives (sans collecting) in the morning, and then we make the crossing back to Miami.

--Emily

This morning we boarded a small motor boat and headed to shore for a special kind of collecting. Instead of diving with nets, we used a seine net – a long, fine mesh net with one end buoyed and the other weighted. Two pullers on each end of the net stretch it parallel to the beach about one hundred feet out. Perpendicular to the pullers is a line of beaters who stand evenly spread out from the pullers to the shore who splash furiously as the pullers bring the net in to keep fish from escaping out the sides. A snorkeler swims back and forth along the length of the net to untangle it from rocks and to let rays and sharks escape.

Beach Seining-101

Captain John organizing our efforts during the seine (Photo Courtesy of Scott Bobek)

Dave jumping off the top deck (photo courtesy of Scott Bobek)

Scott jumping off the top deck (photo courtesy of Dave Wedge)

Post jumpers enjoying the warm water.

Divers descend into darkness. The green light hanging off the back of the boat helps us make our way back when the dive is over!

I didn't manage any pictures of the wreck, but I did make sure to get stung by fire coral so I'd have something to remember from the dive. Mission accomplished. (Learn about fire corals and other hydrozoans here.)

Yesterday we took a different tack on collecting - we anchored the research vessel at a site called Dollar Harbor, and took inflatable boats out to a nearby beach:


The sun sets on Dollar Harbor

The amount of plastic that ends up on the shore of a tiny, secluded beach like that is pretty shocking; I saw everything from plastic water bottles to oil containers to the entire front bumper of a car. Moments like that one can be effective reminders of how long plastics stay around, and how far they can travel. Although being diligent about where one's trash goes is obviously a positive thing, I think it's always good to try to think of ways to actually reduce one's plastics use altogether, because it's very hard to be sure where those things will end up. I don't think many people toss their plastics directly into the ocean on purpose, but over time they often just get there. Seeing that much plastic on a beach as secluded as this one definitely drove this point home for me.

As we were getting off of the boat, we were told that there would likely be jellies in the water, so most people wore full-length clothes to cover their skin. Deb's Catwoman costume, of questionable purpose up to this point, proved a perfect melding of style and function for this type of event.



When we reached the beach, we unfurled a 100-foot long seine net about 100 feet from shore, and then walked it in to the beach, effectively corralling in the fish in that area. I should point out that we're very careful about only taking fish that aren't considered threatened or endangered, and that we're specially permitted by the Bahamian government to perform collecting practices like these. Sherrie is very conscientious about the entire process; she personally inspects every fish that we bring up to make sure that only those with healthy wild populations come aboard, and that none of them are too stressed out when they do. She made her way all the way up and down the seine net making sure that we only ended up with fish that fit these criteria, and everything else was let go. It was a lot of net to cover:



We did end up with several needlefish this way, and now they're safely
on board:


Needlefish are thin, surface dwelling fish who are closely related to flying fish

Mangroves were growing on the beach, and submerged mangrove roots often serve as a sort of nursery for younger fish, because larger predators can't reach them there. Back in the Boston area, salt marshes serve a similar purpose, and both habitats are very important for that reason. We did a second round of seine netting in a smaller cove, and I couldn't believe how many young, 12 to 18-inch barracudas we found in the net. We were reaching in by hand and pulling them out, and there must have been fifteen in there. It was like they were swimming out through the bottom and then swimming back in. We decided to keep a small pair of them. (Click here to meet a barracuda back in Boston who made this same journey from the Bahamas!)



Now we're back in Bimini, and tonight we'll be doing our first night dive. I'll try to get another post up tomorrow.

-Tim