Keys Marine Laboratory Blog: 2016

23 December 2016

Purple sea plume spawning at KML

Day 1: New coral planulae emerge on the mother sea plume colony (November 23, 2016)

Dr. Mary Alice Coffroth (SUNY Buffalo) and her team from the BURR Lab (Buffalo Undersea Reef Research) captured the purple sea plume (Antillegorgia bipinnata) spawning event at KML. These corals spawned 1 week before the November new in moon KML's new seawater well system.

Day 10: Planulae settling on tiles, mouth parts developing (photo by DJ Valent)

Day 15: New recruits! Planulae metamorphosed and settled on pre-conditioned ceramic tiles, polyp tentacles beginning to develop. Baby corals were inoculated with photosynthetic algae (Symbiodinium) harvested from the mother colony.

Day 21: Tentacles extended. These are octocorals (soft coral) so they have 8 tentacles on each polyp which capture small particles (zooplankton) from the water. Purple calcareous spicules (sclerites) are beginning to form in the base of the polyp, protecting the baby coral from predation.

Day 21: Brownish tinge in tentacles 6 days after inoculation, is evidence of the uptake of Symbiodinium which photosynthetically provides nutrients to the growing coral.

Day 23: More purple sclerites and brown algal symbionts visible

Day 31

01 December 2016

Keys Marine Lab Science Seminar Dec 7th

“What’s the big deal about microplastics?”

by Sarah Egner

Key Largo Marine Resources Development Foundation

Dec 7th Wed. 6:00-7:00pmKeys Marine Lab Classroom - mile marker 68.5

While the huge amounts of plastic in our waters is utterly apparent on just about any boat ride, what is even more concerning is that much of the marine debris is invisible to the naked eye. Microplastics come from a variety of sources, most of which are commonly found in every day households and end up going down the drain. Marine animals from plankton to corals to baleen whales have been documented ingesting the foreign material. The types, sources and impacts of microplastics will be discussed. Solutions that any Keys citizen can do will be proposed including participation in a statewide citizen science project.

You are welcome welcome to bring a 1 L water sample for microplastic analysis after the seminar.

~Future Topics ~

Jan 4: Ken Nedimyer – Coral Restoration Foundation

Feb 1: NASA NEEMO Mission at FIU Aquarius underwater habitat

March 1: Dave Vaughn - Mote Marine Lab

April 5: Maria Cooksey (FWC/FWRI) FKNMS boater distribution

19 October 2016

Science Seminars 2016-2017

“Myths, Mysteries and Managing the Lionfish Invasion – latest updates and findings”

with

Lad Akins from REEF

Join REEF Director of Special Projects, Lad Akins, for the latest info on the lionfish invasion and what’s being done to combat invasive lionfish around the region. Lad will provide a brief background of the invasion, impacts on native marine life and future directions for research and control. Be prepared for an interactive presentation with great visuals and time for plenty of questions and answers.

Open to the public

Nov 9th

Wed. 6:00-7:00pm

Keys Marine Lab Classroom

Mile marker 68.5 bayside, Long Key

~Future Topics ~

Dec 7: Sarah Egner – Micro-plastics

Jan 4: Ken Nedimyer – Coral Restoration

Feb 1: NASA NEEMO Mission at Aquarius

March 1: TBA

April 5: TBA

20 January 2016

Researchers from the UK studying flatworm development

The beautiful polyclad flatworm, Maritigrella crozieri, (commonly known as the tiger flatworm) feeds on the mangrove ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata. Both species are common in the mangroves of the Florida Keys (scale = 1cm) (photos by Kate Rawlinson).

A team of researchers from University College London (Fraser Simpson and Johannes Girstmair) and Cambridge University (Kate Rawlinson) has returned to KML to continue their research on the development of the marine tiger flatworm, Maritigrella crozieri.

Flatworms are among the most diverse, and biomedically significant, invertebrate phyla. They include free-living species (best known for their regeneration abilities) and parasitic groups (such as tapeworms and flukes), some of which cause disease in humans.

Early development of Maritigrella embryos, 2-16 cell stages (scale = 50 microns) (photos by Francois Lapraz).

Investigating how flatworms develop tissues and organs from

a fertilized egg during embryonic development is important for our understanding of their biology, and may shed light on ways to control species that negatively impact our health and interests. However, because flatworms lay their eggs in protective egg capsules it is hard to study their development. These researchers have developed methods to rear Maritigrella embryos outside of their egg capsules and are using current molecular and imaging techniques to understand how embryonic cells give rise to adult body structures.

During this visit to KML the team is collecting sexually mature worms from clumps of Ecteinascidia by snorkeling and kayaking. These worms are then brought back to the lab, where their eggs and larval stages are preserved for future analysis.