Fish, fish, and more fish.

It's been hard to find the time to update, so get ready for another post spanning 3 days...

Wednesday:

We woke at the crack of dawn to go fishing.  Yep, in this class, fishing = field work.  Dad, if you're reading this, I know you'd be proud.  Anyways, we hopped on a boat at 7am and headed off into the Canal towards Lake Gatun.  The ride was truly a wonderful experience.  First and foremost, I touched the Canal - stuck my hand in the water and everything.  If you recall, I was geeking out about just being in the Canal a few posts back, so this was even better.  And then there was the sun rising up over the trees, illuminating the sky and reflecting on the water.  It was one of those moments when you remember how amazing nature is, that what you're seeing is actually real.

Crossing under the Gamboa bridge into the Canal

After we'd been in the boat for about 30 minutes, the driver navigated out of the Canal and towards what looked like solid forest.  It turned out to be a tunnel through the jungle, a la Indiana Jones or some other adventure movie.  It was spectacular.  So green, and you could see the bottom of the little stream.

On the other side of the tunnel, the lake opened up again into a series of islands and coves.  Our guide took us to a spot he'd marked, and it was time for some data collection.  We were fishing both for peacock bass, the invasive species, and any native species we could find.  Our total count at the end was 21 bass, 7 of which made it back alive for Blair's behavioral experiments.  I caught a grand total of 1 fish.  Nikki got 2, Sebastian 3, Patricia 4, and Billy 6.  Our guide caught the rest.

House boat in The Middle of Nowhere, Lake Gatun

Nikki, getting those fish

Patricia beat all of us in number of fish caught

Me and Blair fishing, and failing pretty hard

Billy and Sebastian being pensive

They are in a very happy bromance together

In the Panama Canal

Once we were back in Gamboa, it was dissecting time.  I haven't really explained the research project I'm doing, so here we go.  Nikki and I are investigating parasite diversity and abundance on the gills of both native and invasive freshwater fish species.  Our hypothesis is that native fish will have both a higher diversity and greater abundance of parasites, as expected by the Enemy Release Hypothesis.  The ERH states that invasive species, once removed from their native range, are released from the parasitic pressures they previously experienced.  This is because the parasite would also have to be introduced and survive along with it's host.  The likelihood of this happening is reduced, since many parasites have complex life cycles requiring multiple hosts.  Hopefully, this is what we'll see when we analyze our data later.

When analyzing, we cut the gills out of the fish, cut the filaments off the bone, and place the gills under the microscope.  On the peacock bass, we're finding mostly metacercaria, which are the circular spots in the pictures below.  You're looking at gill filaments with metacercaria on them.

Me in action (photo credit Nikki)

Thursday:

Thursday, the class had presentations of their preliminary methodology and experimental design in the morning.  Afterwards, it was a work day, so once again, it was time for some fishing.  That day it was a bit less complicated, however.  Over by the Gamboa Resort, there is a fishing dock and launch area where the tourists leave from on their chartered fishing trips.  We'd heard that we could maybe negotiate for the filleted fish carcasses that the boats brought in.  Of course, when we got there, we discovered that the boats had already come and gone.  No carcasses for us.
But, never fear, because the hospitality of Panama once again came through.  We explained what we needed to the dockmaster, and within seconds, Kenneth had one of his fishing guides fishing for us off the dock.  The guy caught a dogfish, and someone else snagged a catfish, both of which they gladly gave to us for our research.  People here continue to amaze me with their kindness.

We did our dissections back at the school house.  So far, things are looking good in relation to our experimental hypotheses!!!

That night, after long hours of dissection, I decided to give myself a break.  Nikki and I ended up outside with Lukas, Edwin, and Sebastian, chatting into the early hours of Friday morning.  It was the perfect way to decompress and enjoy the evening just chilling in a small group.  Fun fact: Sebastian (our TA) was telling us his first impressions of everyone in the class.  I was initially the "hippie".  Now, I'm the blue-eyed hippie who is pretty cool.  Good to know... Animal sighting: we saw a porcupine, and Sebastian, using his best judgement, chased it up a tree and touched it.  Wise decision for sure.


Friday:

I didn't get much sleep Thursday night, so Friday morning was a bit of a struggle.  We had to get up early for a trip to Pipeline Road, dragging for ticks, which, though interesting, was a waste of time considering our need to continue collecting data for our independent projects.  Oh well... We collected the ticks by dragging canvas on the ground and checking to see if the ticks had attached to the cloth.  I did manage to catch two ticks.  The ones here apparently don't carry diseases, so that was an added bonus.

After our tick collecting, Nikki, Patricia, and I headed back to the docks to beg for carcasses again.  Our friends at the dock remembered us from the day before, and had already been saving the carcasses for us when we arrived.  However, the boats hadn't all come in at this point, so we waited around some more.  In the process, we had a great conversation and learned more about each other's lives.  Ah, how I love bonding.  In good spirits, we returned to the dock when the boats arrived, and then headed back to the school house with bags full of fish carcasses ready to be analyzed.

More data collection happened.  Fun times.  We needed a break again, to that night we went up to the hotel for dessert.  There ended up being an all you can eat dessert buffet with a bunch of small, gourmet  puddings, cakes, and cookies.  We all ate way to much with absolutely no shame, as it should be.


A new post will be up tomorrow - I'm too tired to talk about today, but you'll be able to read all about our palm tree dissections and our new friends.  Goodnight for now.

Fishies!

Ah, fish.  Vertebrate swimmers inhabiting all water types and conditions.  They're fascinating creatures, that's for sure.  I'm pretty glad I feel this way, considering I'll be spending a lot of quality time with dead fish for the next week.  For our parasitology class, we once again have independent projects, but on a much smaller time scale than the last course.  I'll be studying ectoparasite diversity and abundance on the gills of fish, comparing both native and invasive freshwater species.  According to the literature, we expect to find fewer parasites on the invasive species, as their associated parasites often don't survive the move.  Hopefully, that's what we'll see.

Anyways, we've all had fish on the mind for the last 2 days.  Yesterday, we dissected the invasive freshwater Peacock Bass.  Our TA's picked up some leftover carcasses from the fishing docks on Lake Chagres so we could examine the parasitic content of the gills.

Fun fact about the Peacock Bass.  It was introduced to the area because an exotic aquarium fish dealer was raising the bass in a tank in the lake.  This was all fine and good - fish couldn't escape - until a huge rainstorm flooded the lake, and water levels rose.  The Peacock Bass floated out of their tank and presto! An invasion began.  Peacock Bass are doing incredibly well, which poses a problem for the native species that can't compete as aggressively.  Fortunately, the bass are a great game fish, and good eating, so both tourists and commercial fisherman alike assist in culling the population.

Peacock Bass

Dissecting is fun!

Bass gills, ready to have the filaments cut off and examined under the microscope

Today, after visiting the Gorgas Institute for Tropical Diseases, where we learned about Chagas disease, the class made a stop at El Mercado de Mariscos, in Casco Viejo.  The market was pretty amazing.  There were a bunch of vendors with anything ranging from shrimp to lobster to octopus to massive, unidentified pelagic fish.  Can't say the smell was all that wonderful, but it was truly a sight.  While the TAs went to find some marine fish specimens for our dissection later in the day, the rest of us wandered around and took it all in.

I was amazed by the prices of the fish.  This was literally the freshest of the fresh fish, brought in today off boats from the harbor right next to the market.

Shrimp!

Cleaning a fish for a customer

Fishing boats in the harbor next to the market

A cute little boat with Casco Viejo in the background

Part of the outdoor ceviche restaurant line-up

Me and Nikki out by the harbor

Nothing like fresh Ceviche (photo credit Kristie)

After buying our obligatory ceviche, we got back on the bus and headed back to the schoolhouse for some marine fish dissection.  We looked through all the organs today - gills, stomach, intestines, liver, heart, and gonads.  I couldn't help but think it seemed a bit odd, and just slightly unnerving, after eating ceviche from that market, to be investigating parasites on the fish we'd been eating.  Fortunately, for our own peace of mind, no groups found parasites in their specimens.  It's nice to know, retrospectively.  According to Sebastian, our fish expert and TA, today was an anomaly.  Keep that in mind the next time you bite into that piece of sushi...

Tomorrow, Nikki, Blair, Patricia, and I are rising at the crack of dawn for some field work, AKA fishing.  Hopefully we'll catch enough Peacock Bass and some native species to start our independent work.   All I know is that I'm looking forward to six hours on a boat; fishing, relaxing, and soaking up some sun.  Field work is really tough...

Barro Colorado Island, Boat Rides, and Fish Dissections

It's been an interesting weekend, mostly because we didn't really have a weekend.  But hey, I can't complain too much.  Things were still pretty great.

Saturday:

Saturday morning, we left the school house bright and early (7am) to catch a boat to Barro Colorado Island, an island in the middle of Lake Gatun, which was formed when the Canal was built.  We went right through the channel markers where ships for decades before us had traveled.  This was fun for me because I had yet to actually cross the Canal.  I love things like this, being in the exact places where history happened - I always try to picture what this place would have been like when this amazing man-made wonder was still in progress.  Anyways, I can now check that one off the bucket list.

Boating through the canal

Arriving at the docks on the island

BCI is a nature reserve and research location that has been in place since 1923.  Some pretty progressive stuff had been happening there, including a revolutionary study involving sectioning off 50 hectares of land in which every tree greater than 1 cm in diameter is censused every 5 years to monitor forest dynamics.  It was started in 1982, and since then the BCI study has spurred studies like it all over the world.  Researchers use these standardized plots and census methods to compare forest dynamics across the world.  And it all started right here in Panama.

Once on the island, we embarked on a tour through all the trails and study sites.  It was a good hike - lots of ups and downs - but the worst was the cinder block pavers laid out on all the paths.  They were spaced at that extremely awkward distance that is too short for a regular walking stride, but too far to step across two at a time.  I got a workout from simply having to endure the most inefficient walking ever.
Gripes aside, our guide was very knowledgeable about the plants and animals, as well as the history of the island.  We learned about Chagas disease, wild almond distribution and seed predation, ceiba trees, harpy eagles (Panama's national bird), natural dyes, sexually inappropriate monkeys, and slatey-tailed trogons.  We were out walking and learning (and sweating profusely) for about 4 hours.  It was a blast.

This wild almond tree has been totally hollowed out by termites, and yet is still very much alive and thriving.  Pretty awesome what nature can do.

Massive female anolis lizard - she was not thrilled to be caught

This tree, according to our guide, is about 500 years old.  It is a massive Ceiba tree - the path to see the tree is actually just labeled "Big Tree".  The pictures don't do it justice, but I tried.

View from the ground, with Lukas as the obligatory photobombing critter.

Our half of the class

While Professor Graham, Billy, Ann, and Chhaya were momentarily lost after missing the turn to the big tree, we took our own photo too.

Cheesing it up with those buttresses and my stylish pant-in-socks look

View from the top of the island

Learning biology literally in the Canal

See the Caiman?

And the emerald snake? 

We headed back to Gamboa on the boat once more.  Everyone was very tired, but I was awake, so please enjoy the following series of creeper shots of people sleeping, people being silly, Professor Dobson's hilarious expressions, and Professor Graham being cute with her husband Billy. 

I think the life jacket was a little small for billy

Professor Graham and Billy investigating something

Matching
 

Dobson's staring-over-the-water face.  It looks like he's laughing a joke just told, but this was actually a sustained facial expression. 

Occasionally he'd break out that massive telephoto lense

Patricia

Evaline, Nikki, and Simone

Kristie and Christian

Evaline again

We recharged with naps, rest, and slacklining after the long day in the field.  But, since we're in Panama, and it was a Saturday night, the city was calling and we answered.  We went out to Habana Panama, a salsa club in...drumroll please...you'll never guess is...Casco Viejo!  We hit it at the wrong time - not many people and the live band hadn't started, but it was still fun.  Slightly odd because the professors and TAs were also there, but fun nonetheless.  I relearned how to salsa, sort of, and have decided to make a goal of getting better by the time I leave Panama.

After the salsa club, Blair, Nikki, and I ended up back at our favorite place, Tantalo.  Our pals Ricky and Junior were there and remembered us from last week, which was awesome.  We managed to get back up to the rooftop, where we danced in the cool evening air.  While up there, we made another Panamanian friend, Nadia.  She told us to give here a call anytime we want to go out in the city with her.  Literally the sweetest person ever.  Basically, another success of a night out in Panama.

Sunday:

Sunday was a class and work day.  Not much to report.  We were in lab for several hours dissecting more figs and snails.  A plus of the day was a great evening walk/chat with Blair, Nikki, and Simone.

Lukas and Ryan were "reciprocals" of each other

Monday:

More class today.  We had 2 morning lectures, presented ideas for independent projects after lunch (more on that tomorrow), and then learned how to dissect fish (more pictures tomorrow).  After dinner, we watched a documentary on Chagas disease.  I worked on my thesis research for a bit as well.  Trying to find funding will be the next big hurtle.

Sebastian teaching us how to measure a fish's body length

Anyways, a bit later, Blair and I decided to head into the city (Casco Viejo surprisingly) for a break - being cooped up in the schoolhouse all day was rough and we needed some space.  It was another fabulous and much needed night at Tantalo, and on the way back, some exciting negotiating with taxi drivers to lower their prices.  They tried to get us to pay more because we were Americans, so I pulled out the poor college student bit, which actually worked.  Getting transportation-savvy.

Tomorrow, the class is taking a trip to the Gorgas Institute to learn more about Chagas disease.  Then we're off to the fish market to buy some specimens for independent work.  That's all for now.  Time for bed.