Little Cayman Fieldwork
Below are photos that I took during the aforementioned field season.
In February 2012, I traveled to the Cayman Islands to assist my committee member Dr. Brice Semmens and his research team with monitoring a Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) spawning aggregation off the west end of Little Cayman. This work was a component of the Grouper Moon Project, a collaborative research effort between REEF and the Cayman Island Department of the Environment. During day time dives I assisted with fish counts in order to get an estimate of the aggregation size during the 2012 breeding season and helped track the proportion of fish in each color morph as the breeding season progressed. Nassau grouper have 4 color morphs - white belly, bicolor, barred and dark. The field work was featured in the PBS series "Changing Seas". I was included as a scientific expert in Episode 403 - Grouper Moon, briefly discussing genetic connectivity of the species in the Caribbean Sea.
My dive buddy Cindy Shaw, author of "Grouper Moon" The Cayman Islands Department of the Environment Research Vessel
Some of the research crew before heading off to the site Christy Pattengill-Semmens, Steve Gittings and Brice Semmens
Bicolor, dark and barred color morphs Fish gathering near the acoustic hydrophones
An up close shot of one of the tagged fish Bicolor morphs in the foreground
Gravid fish at the aggregation site Three bicolor fish rushing behind a white belly female
Guy Harvey joined us during field work Brice Semmens during his PBS interview