As the below freezing temperatures descend upon Boston, my heart goes out to my colleagues at 1 Central Wharf. On the other hand, it's hot here. H-O-T. But, the flowers are beautiful, the sun is shining, and there is science to be done. So, I invite you all to join me virtually on this tropical adventure!

What am I doing in Panama, you ask? Well, I have the privilege of being the Professor for a course as part of the Three Seas Program, run by Northeastern University. The program takes students to three different locations (Nahant, MA - Bocas del Toro, Panama - Friday Harbor, WA) to learn about marine science. I am co-teaching the Fishes course with Dr. Clare Wormald (Cal State Northridge) here at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Bocas.

Our lucky students have thus far had the honor of waking up at 4:00 a.m. to watch the nocturnal-diurnal changeover in fish species (yes, different species are visible on the reef at night versus the day!). They have been given lectures on the internal and external anatomy of fishes (complete with dissections), how fish swim, feed, grow, behave, and reproduce, and how fish fit into the overall evolutionary trajectory of life on Earth. You know, the basic stuff that any good fish course should teach. :-) Oh, and did I mention that they need to learn the taxonomic family, genus and species of most fish on the reef? Needless to say, our students have been busy (as have we...).

Amidst the fishy madness, some photos have been taken. Here are a few favorites. Take the course with us - can you identify these? Family, genus, and species please!! :-)

At any rate, we'll be posting more here soon. But if you're looking for more madness and mayhem in the meantime (mmm!), check out the Three Seas Blog here.

Later gator (or around here, Cayman....),

Randi