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It is officially day three! We are now headed to the Gulf Stream. Being on the ship the first couple of days was a little nerve-wracking, but it slowly and surely got better. The ship’s crew is extremely welcoming and interactive with the students. There are always new discoveries to be found when you are on a ship for 24 hours a day. Between the hours of 0500 and 0600 today, a copepod was retrieved in the plankton net sample. It was so massive that it took up the entire slide’s grid when we analyzed it with the microscope. This was pretty unusual, due to the other species being smaller and only taking up one or two squares of the grid each. Between the hours of 0700 and 0800, dinoflagellates, bivalves, copeods, gastropods, and foraminifera were found in the plankton net. As the day continued, we netted some Sargassum macroalgae. Crab, shrimp, polychaete worms and lobster were found within the Sargassum. Among the six undergraduate students, we rotate shifts every four hours. My shift is now over. It is time for the next shift to determine what the next discovery is going to be.
Kelsi Samuels
