Holding Stingrays and Watching Dolphins play :)

pressable October 6, 2011

Last week I posted about what you get as a biology major at Florida Tech and one of the main points that I stressed was the amount of undergraduate research that you are able to participate in which makes the university unique.

This past weekend, three sections of Biological Discovery 2 students departed from the dorm circle at their specific times: 8:30 am, 10:00 am, and 11:30am, to participate in a study measuring the biodiversity of fish in the Indian River Lagoon.

Students learned how to use seining nets properly and were taught how to shuffle to avoid being zapped by stingrays. Some students eagerly volunteered to go out into the wild, while others decided they were better fit to identify the catch on land. The students took three different measurements at three different water depths, to characterize the diversity of fish in the Indian River Lagoon. These depths included knee deep, waist deep, and chest deep, and each of the scheduled times found different organisms.

I participated in the 8:30 am trip and it was a great experience that students considering Florida Tech should really focus in on. I got to participate in research, as well gain experience that I can put on a resume when applying for jobs. Not to mention, seining in Florida is pretty awesome! First of all, the water is nice and warm early in the morning so you’re not freezing. Second, you get to see things like stingrays that people up north (like myself) don’t get to see too often. And lastly, we got to see wild dolphins hunting in the water. Come on, how cool is that!

Florida Tech really is in one of the top locations for marine biology and definitely gives you the research opportunities that will help in the long run. If you have any questions about the biology department, feel free to comment on this post, or email me at mdraghetti2011@my.fit.edu