I saw a few people gathered outside my lab window this morning.  When I went out to see what was going on, I found out they were looking at a little elephant seal on the rocks.  I took this video of it.  I wish I could have recorded the smell as well as the picture and the sound!  Enjoy!

Students in Mrs. McLaughlin’s 6th grade E-block science class at Berkeley Prep asked:

“What is done with the salt from desalinating your water?”

I am pretty sure it is added to the freshwater waste that the station produces (from showers, cooking, etc.) and is returned to the ocean.  That way, the wastewater we add to the environment is of the same salinity as the ocean water itself.

Students in Mrs. McLaughlin’s 6th grade F-block science class at Berkeley Prep asked:

“Which type of krill is your favorite and/or fascinates you the most?”

“Why do you pay attention to their eyes in your research?”

I like them all, but I would have to say the big-eye krill, Thysanoessa macrura.  Its body is almost clear, so it can hide from predators, and it has a really neat eye with a part that looks up towards the sky and another part that looks down.  See the picture earlier in the blog for a view of it.  My research deals with eyes and vision, so this animal makes a lot of sense to study.  All of the common krill species in this area form large swarms to help avoid predators, like whales and penguins.  Vision plays a role in keeping the swarms together, so learning more about how these animals use their eyes will help us to better understand the swarms and how krill use them to avoid becoming a penguin’s next meal.