Post #10 - Toothbrushes come in handy

Today was an interesting, diverse day.  The major effort was to get our first "official" COT fertilization experiment underway.  We are confident that we have worked out the major bugs in the protocol so it's time to get some data!!  The morning was busy checking the pH of the water in the aquaria we were going to use, collecting eggs and sperm  and making the suspensions of the right concentration of each, etc.

We got the gametes into the culture tubes by lunch, and since the tubes are incubated for 6-7 hours suspended in an aquarium, we felt after lunch would be a good time to check on the SeaFET.  Tomorrow we need to collect water samples right next to it when the device is taking its measurements of pH, etc.  (Emily's watch is synchronized with the timer inside the SeaFET so we know when it sampling.)  As we headed down to the dock to prep for the snorkel, I asked Emily if she remembered her toothbrush.  "Of course, dad!" was her reply:

Toothbrushes are wonderful devices for cleaning things, from "les dents" to screens around SeaFET sensors:

We all know how easy it is to ignore things around us when you are concentrating, as Emily did here as an inquisitive moral eel looked on as she brushed...

As I said in the previous post,  you never know what you might see when out in the water.  There is always the possibility to be surprised.  Today, again, was no exception:

The eagle ray was just cruising by...

then it was off to wherever it was heading...

as Emily said goodbye....

(She's not touching the ray, but is probably within 5 feet of it.  A magical moment...)