Aquarium staff recently returned from an expedition to the Bahamas. They'll be sharing pictures and stories from their time exploring the turquoise blue waters of Caribbean—complete with pictures, video, conservation notes and a taste of life on board a working boat. 

This post about a beach seine and copper sweeper roundup comes to us from Austin, who normally cares for the shorebirds on Central Wharf.

On most of our dives we collect in groups of 2 – 5 divers and work together to corral and catch fish in our nets and transfer them into catch bags. Depending on the water depth we either bring them directly to the boat or put them in a barrel with holes in it that hangs from the boat and is raised in the water at increments to allow the fish to decompress.

On the reef looking for fish

However we collect the two most fragile species, needle fish and copper sweepers, with different methods where all of the trip staff and participants work together as a team.

South Cat Key

On March 25 we went ashore on South Cat Key, a small uninhabited island, to seine for needle fish. We pulled a 100 ft seine net through the shallow waters by the beach and collected needlefish. Needlefish have delicate scales so we very carefully removed them from the net and transferred them to coolers to be brought back to the tanks on the boat.

Before wading into the water, Don and Barbara show the team how to gently seine with the help of a paper towel.

Success: Needlefish collected in seine

You can see needlefish swimming near the surface of the Giant Ocean Tank. Their silvery blue coloration makes them almost invisible when seen from above or below.

On March 27 we dove together as a team to collect copper sweepers. These cute fish live in large schools under ledges and in caves in the reef. You can see them at the Aquarium in the Blue Hole exhibit alongside our goliath groupers. Like the needlefish, copper sweepers are delicate and need to be collected with care. The collection of the copper sweepers was highly coordinated and involved all of the collectors working together.

Copper sweeps in their protective bag

Once caught, the copper sweepers are transferred into large plastic bags which are smooth and protective, while still allowing the fish to school. It was my job to hold one of the bags and make sure that the fish were transferred gently.

Participating in the needlefish and copper sweeper roundups was some of the most fun I had on the trip and I was impressed with how well coordinated and successful these roundups were.

Aquarium staff recently returned from an expedition to the Bahamas. They'll be sharing pictures and stories from their time exploring the turquoise blue waters of Caribbean—complete with pictures, video, conservation notes and a taste of life on board a working boat. 

This post comes to us from Austin, who normally cares for the shorebirds on Central Wharf.

Drawbridges up, the Coral Reef II heads down the Miami River toward the Bahamas

Today was the real start of the collecting trip and was an exciting and productive day. We set out at sunrise down the Miami River, passing under several draw bridges. After a calm ocean crossing of about 4 hours we found ourselves in the beautiful blue waters surrounding Bimini Island in the Bahamas. All of our trip dives were to take place around Bimini.

The turquoise blue waters around Bimini...Ahhhhhh.

We did our first two dives of the trip at Rainbow Reef, a pretty area with many small patches of coral. Our first dive was observational and gave us a chance to test out our dive gear before the real collecting began. This was my first dive in the Bahamas and I was amazed at the abundance and diversity of the fishes at this site.



We saw many of the fish on our collecting wish-list including angelfish, triggerfish, squirrelfish and wrasses, and got the chance to check out some cool invertebrates. Aquarium aquarist Monika Schmuck took this picture of one of our favorite cephalopods, the Caribbean reef squid.

Caribbean reef squid

We began collecting fish during our second dive at Rainbow Reef.  My favorite fish that we brought on board were three trumpet fish. Trumpetfish are predators that hover beside the reef and are slow moving until they detect a small fish or shrimp to eat, which they inhale with a powerful suction generated by their tube-like mouth.

Trumpetfish swimming with grunts and squirrelfish

The team collected three trumpet fish including one with unusually yellow coloration. We decided that one of the trumpet fish was too large to be shipped back safely so we returned it to the reef. At all times on the trip we were extremely careful to collect only fish of specific sizes that could be shipped back safely and do well in one of our exhibits. All of our collecting is sustainable and is approved by the Bahamian government and the import of these animals is approved by the US Fish and Wildlife.

All of our collecting is sustainable and is approved by the Bahamian government, and the import of these animals is approved by the US Fish and Wildlife.

The blue blue under the Coral Reef II

Aquarium staff recently returned from an expedition to the Bahamas. They'll be sharing pictures and stories from their time exploring the turquoise blue waters of Caribbean—complete with pictures, video, conservation notes and a taste of life on board a working boat. This post comes to us from Austin, who normally cares for the shorebirds on Central Wharf.
March 20 – 21, 2014

We got off the airplane in tropical Miami on March 19, happy to escape the arctic-like conditions in Boston, and began preparing the research vessel the Coral Reef II for our Bahamas fish collecting expedition.

A bustle of activity around the Coral Reef II  as the team gears up for the trip to the Bahamas

In spite of the industrial surroundings of the shipyard where the Coral Reef II floats on the brown, murky waters of the Miami River, we had some interesting wildlife encounters during our several days of preparation. We found an injured juvenile yellow-crowned night heron on the docks that apparently had fractures to its wing and leg and was unable to walk well or fly. Luckily we quickly were able to contact Pelican Harbor, a wildlife rehabilitation facility that specializes in seabirds and shorebirds. We secured the bird under a laundry basket to make sure it was safe until they could come and pick it up. (Learn how an injured common tern found a new lease on life at the Aquarium.)

File photo: Yellow-crowned night heron by Peter Wallack via Wikimedia Commons

The staff members from Pelican Harbor had cared for yellow-crowned night herons before and were hopeful that the bird could be brought back to health and, if not released, then placed in a sanctuary or at a zoo or aquarium (just like most of the birds in the Aquarium's shorebird exhibit that have injuries and would be unable to survive in the wild).

On a happier note, on Friday we were visited by a friendly manatee that apparently wanted to drink the fresh water coming out of a hose that was running into the river. The manatee entertained us for about ten minutes as it swam right next to the dock. These encounters reminded me of how there can be amazing wildlife even in urban and formerly very  polluted areas like the Miami river and, closer to home, Boston Harbor.

An up-close manatee sighting is definitely something text home about!