Date:
June 8, 2009
Hello there bloggers. My name is Bella Cullen and I’m
the summer intern with MMR. Since I’m not a
full-fledged member of the crew, I can’t give you as much information as they
can, so I thought I’d share with you what I’ve learned so far this summer.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from my time with the crew
at MMR, but I can tell you that when they tell you to be prepared for an
adventure of your life, they aren’t kidding.
I had only been with the team for a few days and we
hadn’t even left their home base in Hawaii before I had my first adventure. I
was with the head of MMR, Edward Masen when he got word that a pod of Orca had
been spotted not far from where we were at the time.
I had seen these amazing creatures of the sea up close
before during my time working at Sea World, but to see these majestic creatures
up close in their natural habitat was simply magnificent. The way they sliced
through the water with such ease was so graceful and majestic almost like some
sort of water ballet. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.
Thanks to Edward’s awesome skills with a camera, I have
the great pictures below to share with you from that day.
Speaking of Edward and his picture taking skills, I
recently saw another way the leader of this amazing team is incredibly smart
and talented. Not only does he have a vast amount of knowledge about sharks and
other marine life, he has an incredibly gifted, inventive mind. I watched first
hand and learned it’s possible to make your own you own camera lense
accessories from simple house hold items that you can find every day in your
own kitchen. It was very enlightening, educational, and rewarding for me to see
him turn milk and vinegar into plastic.
However surprising learning to turn milk and vinegar
into plastic was, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of the things I’ve already learned
in the two weeks I’ve been with the MMR team.
You might think that two weeks isn’t much time to have
learned a whole lot, but I can assure you that I have.
Before the team and I had even left their home base in
Hawaii, I went on a trip to the Maui Ocean Center where I learned several
things about Hammerhead sharks. I was surprised to learn that they are the only
species of shark that swim in schools. There are nine different types of
hammerheads, and while they aren’t considered to be aggressive, they are still
considered to be dangerous because of their size. Maybe like me you have
wondered about the shape of this shark’s head. It’s believed that is allows for
increased sensory abilities and easier navigation. So you see, they make look
entirely different from how you’d picture a shark, but there is a good reason
for it.
Very different from the hammerhead, the Tiger
shark is known as the garbage can of the sea. Tigers have the most
diverse diet of sharks—turtles, rays, birds, squid, dolphins and even smaller
sharks. But it’s the nonfood items they consume that have given them their
nickname. Their stomachs have been found to hold tires, bottles, license plates
and all sorts of things. This particular type of shark is born with dark spots
and vertical strips which fade as the shark ages. They have a blunt nose and the
agility to curve their bodies and change direction very quickly. Another
interesting fact that separates tiger sharks from others is that they have
identical rows of twenty-four teeth that work together to capture their prey
and consume it. However most other sharks the lower jaw holds the prey while
the upper cuts into it.
Sharks aren’t the only ocean life I’ve learned about.
On our first day at sea I spotted a Wahoo which looks like a Mackerel with long
scaly bodies and a pointed mouth. Wahoo are a prized sport fish in Hawaii and
also in Bermuda.
I also learned about skipjacks which are part of the
tuna family are preyed upon by sharks and wahoo. They live in tropical waters
across the world and can live in shoals of up to 50,000 fish. Skipjacks are a
silvery fish with four lateral bands that appear reflective under water. Different
from typical fish, skipjacks don’t have scales except on the corselet, a dark
blue band of large, thick scales running directly along the top, from their
mouths to their tail fins. They feed on small fish, crustaceans,
cephalopods and mollusks as well as serving an important part of the culinary
culture in Hawaii and Japan.
Unfortunately the skipjack has a short life span of about seven years.
The only manage to keep their numbers so vast because they begin to reproduce
when they are only a year old. But their large numbers also pose a danger to
them, which is the threat of commercial and game fishing.
It’s hard for me to comprehend all the knowledge I have
already gained in my time with the MMR team and even harder to think of all I
might still learn. The entire team is overflowing with a vast amount of
information, particularly on sharks and I can’t wait to see what the rest of
the summer has in store for me. One thing’s for sure and that is my adventure
has just begun.
We are set to reach False Bay, which is off the coast
of South Africa, in just about five days. Once there my next shark to learn
about will be the Great White. So next time I post I will be able to share with
you all of the details I learn about this apex predator which is at the top of
the shark food chain.
Before I go I’d like to urge any of you who are
considering MMR’s intern program to really give it some serious thought. I
think you could be well on your way to an amazing adventure next summer, just
like I am this year.
The last thing I’d like to share with you is a little
bit of fun trivia I’ve learned so far and that is the Hawaiian names for all of
the sea life I’ve learned about so far.
Check them out below and let me know if there are any others you’d like
to know the names of.
Hammerhead =
Mano Kihikihi
Tiger Shark
= Niuhi
Wahoo =
Ono
Skipjack =
Aku
See you next time, Bella, or as I have been
affectionately dubbed by the team, Guppy.
