Dolphin Communication Project at RIMS

The Roatan Institute for Marine Science is ideally situated for marine study on the northwest coast of Roatan where over 30 miles of fringing and barrier reefs, seagrass beds, mangroves and shoreline are home to an astonishing profusion of life. RIMS is located at Anthony’s Key Resort. Read More and watch video of research....

TME 2011 -Participants work with dolphin trainers.

Leavin' On A Jet Plane Saturday....

TME 2011 concluded today with our flights back to the States. It was a great week of lectures and field studies. Thanks everyone for consistent participation throughout the week. Hopefully what we experienced will have a positive impact on our students this coming year! Here are some favorite picks from the week...

Fireworm eats a Gorgonian

Can you see me? I'm good at hiding!

Peacock Flounder tolerates a photo

A Green Sea Turtle grazing at the reef

Going to the surface for a quick breath

Fighting Flounders

A Christmas Tree worm

Fabulous Friday

The last day on Roatan began with an interesting lecture on dolphin research being conducted at Roatan Institute for Marine Science.  We were all amazed to learn that dolphins not only communicate with each other, but they can work together to come up with new coordinated behavior together.  Dolphins can also respond to signs or symbols drawn on a board as well as they can to the many hand signals given by their trainers.  It just goes to show the intelligence of these magnificent marine mammals.

Afterwards we headed to Lime Key, a secluded beach getaway at the eastern end of the island.  We snorkeled in a beautiful patch reef area filled with sponges of every shape and color.  We swam around 2 unique coral formations, known as The Cow and Calf.  We added 2 new fish to our fish list, that now is up to over 100 different fish species!!

The afternoon finished with an intertidal walk, complete with brittle seastars, urchins, sea cucumbers and other invertebrates that spend their lives in these harsh tidepool areas.

Before heading back to Anthony's Key, we stopped for some shopping in Coxen Hole and West End,
where folks purchased locally made crafts and souvenirs.

Scenic overlook on our way to the east end of Roatan

A sea fan at the Cow & Calf snorkel site

Red Rope and Tube sponges with a Gorgonian

Intertidal walk at Lime Key

Thursday update

We started the day with a lecture on mangroves, which was followed by a snorkel to these
important ecological environments.  We saw all types of juvenile fish, including a barracuda less
than 3 inches long.  We also saw oysters, sponges, crabs and spaghetti worms with long white
sticky tentacles that give this weird worm it name.

Afterwards we snorkeled Blue Harbor and collected organisms to examine before we released them.
Along with sea stars, urchins, crabs, shrimp and other interesting life forms, we found an inch long
green moray eel in the algae mats we examined.

Some of the group went on an afternoon dive, while others went for a horseback ride.  The day ended
with a night dive that featured lobsters, squid, and plenty of sleeping parrotfish.

Mangroves by Man O' War Key

Juvenile Moray Eels

Invert collection

Free time!

Wonderful Wednesday

The morning started with a lecture on algae (green, red, and brown), and was followed by a field study to apply our lesson where we picked various species of algae that we found on the reef..  We found over 20 different algae, sorted them according to species, and immediately noted their diversity.

 The afternoon lecture compared and contrasted marine and freshwater fishes from the Great Lakes.  The group also learned about the dangers of pharmaceuticals in the water and how to properly dispose of unused and unwanted medicines.

The afternoon snorkel//dive brought about the greatest surprise...a friendly, feeding hawksbill turtle that stayed with the group for over 10 minutes at one of the dive sites.  We recognized her as a  female due to her shorter tail, which we learned about on an earlier lecture.  We watched as she grazed on a variety of algae that she eagerly crunched and munched in front of the excited group.

The evening ended with an island fiesta night, complete with a delicious dinner, dancing, crab races, fire dancer and limbo contest.  Our own, Wilma, came in second place!
 

 

Helen and Hawksbill Turtle Happily Hovering!

Giant Mithrax Crab

Invasive  Lionfish

Island Fiesta Dancing.....

Terrific Tuesday

After a morning lecture on sea turtles, the group headed out to a snorkel/dive at Four Sponges, a beautiful reef location with not 4, but maybe 4000 sponges tucked in among the corals!!  We didn’t see any turtles at this spot, but the group has had watery encounters with both green and hawksbill turtles on previous snorkels and dives and now they are familiar with knowing how to tell these reef reptiles apart.

At noon we headed over to Bailey’s Key, home to over 20 Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins, including two calves born in the past month.  After an orientation, we entered the enclosure to have a fabulous meeting with these social marine mammals.  Each of us got to touch the dolphins, give them a “high five” which amounted to a hand-to-fin rub and ended the experience with a dolphin kiss!  Afterwards, we spent 30 minutes snorkeling with the entire group as they rushed around us looking for underwater rubs and pats or a game of seaweed “take away” where a blade of sea grass is presented to an interested dolphin, who grabs it and tries to keep you for getting it back.  The biggest thrill came when the new mothers brought their youngsters over to show off their lovely little gray bundles of joy!  The mothers are protective and keep the calves more than an arms-reach away, but both mommas were happy to receive rubdowns from the group.

The evening lecture on dolphins, served as a perfect review of what we had learned at the encounter.  Of course, the day wouldn’t come to a perfect end without a night snorkel to try and find some of the nocturnal creatures of the reef…..lobster, anyone??

On our way to the Dolphin Encounter

Meet Dixon, four years old!

A very photogenic and friendly Green Moray getting cleaned!

A Spiny Caribbean Lobster

A Whale of a Monday

 After a morning lecture on corals, we headed out to the reef to see the animals that create the beautiful "stage" that supports the colorful fish and invertebrate "actors" we have been learning about.



As we headed out to the morning's first dive/snorkel, we were greeted by a pod of pilot whales, including two beguiling calves that brought out "oohs" and 'aahs" from the group.  What a way to start the day in Roatan.


The dive and snorkel featured beautiful fish, cleaning stations and an experiment with a special (harmless) dye to show the filtering abilities of some of the sponges we learned about.  What a
great experience seeing the dye go into the sponges body and coming out its excurrent opening.

Dye injected into the base of this sponge exits with filtered water

A hermit crab finds a home in an abandoned conch shell

See the fish in this slide?

Now the Peacock Flounder is easier to see

Divers having their fingers cleaned by tiny cleaner gobies

Divers in the water -great visibility today!

pilot whales --Thanks Rhonda!