Shark Dissection!!

This is the lemon shark we dissected. It was a 6 foot pregnant female.

These were the babies. Steve said they were only about half way through gestation. There were 12 babies total.

Hola,

On Wednesday when the fishermen came in, one of them had a 6 foot lemon shark that he had caught. Steve, our director, asked if we could have it for dissection. The fisherman agreed so on Thursday, we got to see a shark dissection. The liver of a shark is HUGE, it makes up 1/3 it's total body weight. The shark was pregnant so we got to see her 12 babies. One of the babies was much smaller than the others which isn't normal, Steve thinks that maybe that baby was in a different state of development than the others. If that's true, we were witness to a scientific breakthrough. We went through the shark's stomach, but there wasn't much in it, only a few small bones. Once Kristine started going through the shark poo I left because it smelled so bad.

During the day on Thursday and Friday we just worked on our papers. Some people went gill netting on Thursday. I didn't go because I think it's mean. They stretch out this net and sharks get stuck in it. A lot of times they die since the need to be moving in order to breathe. It turns out they didn't catch anything so it was a win win situation for me. I ended up turning in my paper a few hours early yesterday and took a nap....it was glorious.

Last night a few of our local friends, Michael, Amyth, Audi, and Conrad threw a party for us. They cooked lobster and conch which was absolutely amazing. I couldn't tell if people were happier about the conch or the fact that there was a couch to sit on (none of us have had a couch to sit on in 3 months).

Today for community outreach we have "Sea Day" for the kids. I am leading one of the snorkels which should be fun. We're also going to have a "touch tank" for them with sea cucumbers and starfish and stuff. There are going to be activities as well that center around turtles which I think will be cool. That's about it for now, I hope all of you are doing well.

Love,
Michelle