Another lovely Mexican day! I keep wanting to call it a Caribbean day or tropical day, but I don't think those describe where I'm at in Mexico.
Today was our third and final day at Xcaret. We started the day with a fish anesthesia lab. Our patients were moderate sized grey tilaia and we anesthetized them in a small tank with clove oil. We then took blood samples and biopsy samples of the gills, fins, and scales for research before recovering the animals in a tank of clean salt water. The fish recovered happily and uneventfully no worse for wear and after microscopic evaluation of the samples, the animals were reported to be very healthy!
Our next activity was to swim in the turtle lagoon, capture a sea turtle each, and bring it to the mangrove area for medical treatment, cleaning, and blood collection. How do you catch a 100-200lb adult male sea turtle? As it turns out, it is much more difficult than you might expect! We worked with a sea turtle trainer and swam out in the lagoon one at a time with fins and snorkels. You grasp the turtle with one hand at the top of the shell (carapace) and one at the bottom and then guide them to shore. This is pretty easy if they're cooperative, but some of the turtles didn't want anything to do with us and swiftly and easily swam us away from the shore line or towards the bottom! They are incredibly strong and agile in the water and even on land, it's unbelievable! As soon as the turtle was out of the water, he received a shell cleaning (sand on the carapace with scrub brushes to remove some of the algae) and a good slathering of ointment to treat ulcerative dermatitis, a common problem in sea turtles. The veterinarians regularly take blood samples from their animals to check their health as most marine animals are on death's door before they show clinical signs of illness. Dr. Ana showed us anatomically where they stick the needle and then we each drew blood on our turtles. The first turtle I brought to shore was quite injured and had been beat upon by the other males in the lagoon. Unfortunately in breeding season, male sea turtles can get aggressive with one another and can inflict extensive bite wounds on each other. We skipped his blood sample (I'm sure they would have seen lots of inflammatory cells!) and gave him a good layer of iodine cleaner and cream. Poor guy! The second turtle I captured was huge and not interested in cooperating with me so I got a bit of a ride! I very easily drew a blood sample from him - hit the vein on one quick stick!
Next on our busy schedule was participation in the shark educational program. In small groups, we got in the water with the nurse shark trainers and they walked us through the anatomy and ecology of the sharks. We got to touch them, feed them and take pictures with them. Their skin is thick and bumpy - nothing like a fish! We also got to swim with the nurse sharks which was really neat (and really not intimidating despite their large size).
We headed off to the sting ray lagoon for more interactive anatomy and ecology. I loved the rays! Their skin was rough on top but smooth and slimy on the belly and pelvic fin. We had the opportunity to feed the rays and get a back massage by their fins, and I got to return the favor and massage the ray! These guys are so cool. We got to snorkel in their lagoon for a little while afterwards and generally enjoy the reef fish and 20+ rays in the lagoon.
Our last activity of the day was to draw blood from a sting ray. To not stress the animals too much, only a few of us got to restrain and draw samples, but I was one of the lucky few and it was so neat! I had a little bit of trouble at first because their is a thick cartilage ring protecting the vein in the tail, but I was finally able to get a sample.
So cool!!!
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