Dip Nets in the Estuary

Dip nets in action.
Sampling in the estuary.

Doing the “sting ray shuffle” through the shallow waters of the estuary of a small stream and the Mississippi Sound, we used dip nets to collect organisms from the sediment-water interface.

We found mostly invertebrates. There were lots of small white crabs. Most, but not all, were too small to pinch.

We also grabbed quite a number of translucent shrimp.

You can very clearly see the entire gastro-intestinal system of this small shrimp.

And there were a lot of hermit crabs.

An understandably shy hermit crab.

A couple students also picked up some small snakes, but they quickly slipped through the dip net’s mesh and escaped.

Simple and effective, dip netting was a nice way to start the Coastal Sciences Camp.

Coastal Science Camp at the Gulf Coast Research Lab

Dip netting in a small estuary.

As you may have guessed from the previous posts about waterspouts and the dolphin, we’ve been on the Gulf coast for the last few days. Specifically, we were visiting the Gulf Coast Research Lab‘s Marine Education Center for two days for our end-of-year trip.

It was excellent. The weather was perfect; sunny with lots of cumuliform clouds for shade but little rain. However, the what really made the trip work was that we had a good, interesting, and varied program, directed by an excellent instructor, Stephanie T..

Stephanie T. pointing out the finer points of piscine morphology.

For reference (to link all posts about the Coastal Science Camp):


View Coastal Sciences Camp, Gulf Coast Research Lab in a larger map

Dolphin

Dolphin in the boat's wake.

We weren’t looking for them at the time, and later when we were looking for them we didn’t find them, but on our trip back to the GCRL-MEC a dolphin decided it wanted to play in our boat’s wake.

It would jump through the face of the bow wave. Usually horizontally, but vertically once or twice.

Playing.

Dolphins usually travel in pods of up to a dozen or so individuals. This one, however, was alone. We’d seen it earlier, while we were walking on the beach and picking up trash. The dolphin may have been playing or eating, but it was certainly scaring the small fish. A couple birds took advantage of this to make their own catches, with near vertical dives into the gently rolling waters of the sound.

It was wonderful to observe.

Bird caught in the middle of a dive, just before it splashed into the water.

Waterspouts

Two waterspouts seen over Ocean Springs.

As we waded through the Mississippi Sound, doing the Sting Ray Shuffle, sampling for benthic fauna, we came across these two waterspouts. Our guide, Stephanie, from the Gulf Coast Research Lab’s Marine Education Center, said they’re not that common.

Subtly sinuous.

They’re quite elegant.

In the distance.

Fortunately, they were very far away.

Fascinating.