G'day ya'll! I'm writing this post from beautiful Heron Island. I'm here collecting specimens for my postdoctoral research project in Bernie Degnan's Lab at The University of Queensland.
For this project, I'm examining the genes involved in the formation of the calcareous sclerites (sometimes called spicules) in chitons and aplacophorans. Heron is home to several species of chitons and aplacophorans have been seen here at least three times. So far it's been slow going... I've spent several days snorkeling on different parts of the island and seen lots of amazing stuff (beautiful corals, diverse fish, sharks, sea turtles, etc.) but I've only collected one specimen of the species of chiton I'm after: Cryptoplax larvaeformis. It seems that they like to hide during the day and mostly come out at night to feed. They are really good at hiding; I put the one I collected in a tank with a rock and it has completely disappeared (but I know it must be in there somewhere).
Tonight I'm going out for a night snorkel and hopefully it will be more productive!
No comments:
Post a Comment