Tag: taxonomy

Posted on

Amelia Black, There’s No Place Like Home, July 18, 2026

NOAA Teacher at Sea

Amelia Black 

Aboard NOAA Ship Oregon II

July 6-17, 2026

Mission: SEAMAP Summer Groundfish Survey
Geographic Area of Cruise: Gulf of America/Gulf of Mexico
Date: July 18, 2026

Science and Technology Log

Are you curious about the final number of marine taxa (types) that we caught on Leg 3 of the SEAMAP Groundfish Survey? 

We caught more than even the scientists onboard predicted we would! However, before I tell you the final count, I want to explain a little bit about the process of sorting and identifying the different types of marine life counted during the survey.   

Not everything that came up in the net was counted as part of the survey. Trash, empty shells, sea grass, and organisms small enough to pass through the holes in the net were not included.  We first sorted everything into similar groups and then separated those groups further when needed.  For marine life that looked very similar or was difficult to identify, the scientists would double-check each other’s work to make sure everything was sorted correctly.  Remember, this survey was not just about fish but  included all kinds of marine life living on the ocean floor.  

Looking at these pictures, can you tell the difference between some of these organisms?

four flat fish displayed in a column down a white plastic measuring board. each flatfish is positioned with its mouth to the left of the photo, so that the two eyes, which are on the same (top-facing) side, are visible. the fish toward the top is noticeably larger than the three laid out beneath it.
Four different types of flatfish, most commonly known as Flounder, all caught in the same haul
two closed scallop shells photographed on a metal sorting table. the one on the left is larger, and appears lighter in color, mottled yellow and orange. we can see a few small barnacles attached to its shell. the one on the right is smaller, darker, and cleaner.
Two different types of scallops

Sometimes it was easy to tell the difference and other times it was very difficult. The scientists had to not only know the differences but also the scientific (Latin) names for hundreds of different marine taxa. Occasionally, we would catch something that was not common during the groundfish survey. When this happened the scientists would consult identification guides or databases to help identify what we had caught. 

Over the past two weeks, I have learned so much and encountered many new names and words.  Not only have I learned the common names of the marine life we encountered, but I have also learned their scientific names.  I’m not sure how many of those names will stay in my long-term memory since I may never encounter some of these organisms again. I do know I have learned more than I ever expected. 

I was able to identify a lionfish on someone’s shirt! Before this trip, I never would have recognized it.

a man stands in the wetlab, surrounded by metal work tables. on the table in front of him are several white plastic sorting baskets. His gloved right hand grasps the jaw of a lionfish and holds it toward the camera for a photo. we can see the dramatic spotted fins and striped body of the fish, its feathery pectoral fins, and its tall dorsal spines.
Scientist Dereke with a lionfish.  

Lionfish are an invasive species from the Indo-Pacific region. They are related to  scorpionfish and also have venomous spines. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/lionfish-facts.html 

So.. what was the final count? 

The total count of different marine taxa (types) that we counted was… 

350!

That’s 350 different marine taxa that we identified during Leg 3 of the survey. Then, every individual within those taxa had to be counted, with many also being measured and weighed.  It was incredible to see the diversity of life living on the ocean floor. 

Watch this slideshow to see video to see some of the amazing marine life we encountered. 

Marine Life of the Groundfish Survey

Did you see any marine life that looked familiar?  I did! I was surprised to learn that there are catfish in the sea! They are a different type than the catfish we have in the rivers back home in Kansas, but they look very similar. 

Personal Log

Before leaving for this trip, I wanted to get a picture of the sunset every night.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen! At first, I did not realize the sun set around 8:00 p.m. in the Gulf instead of closer to 9:00 p.m. like back home in Kansas. By the time I figured that out, I had already missed a few beautiful sunsets.  Thankfully, I was still able to capture several beautiful sunsets before the end of the trip. 

a collage of 6 photos. the largest photo, at top left, is a selfie of Amelia taken in front of a railing at sunset. she wears her Teacher at Sea hat. this photo is surrounded by five smaller square images to its right and bottom sides. Each shows a different sunset, capturing a range of colors. One sunset is viewed through a porthole.

They say that if you are lucky, you might see a ‘green flash’ just as the sun disappears below the horizon because green is the last color visible before the sun is gone. I watched every chance I got, but I was not lucky enough to see one. 

As I head back to Kansas, I just want to say thank you to everyone who made this experience possible.  Thank you to the NOAA Teacher at Sea team, the crew of Oregon II, the science team, and everyone who followed along on my adventure. 

It is still hard to believe that this was my life for the past two weeks. The entire Oregon II crew was incredibly welcoming and made the ship feel like a home away from home.  

a collage of two photos, stacked. the top photo shows 5 people in hard hats, life vests, and gloves standing near the railing of NOAA Ship Oregon II. Four of the people are facing the camera to smile for the photo; the fifth is facing away, grasping a rope with both hands. One woman holds an empty sorting basket off to her side. In the bottom photo, 6 people stand in different locations around the wet lab, and smile for the photo. Four are positioned around a table to be sort and measure fish.
Part of the science team aboard NOAA ship Oregon II 

To the science team, thank you for making room for a Teacher at Sea and for answering my thousand-and-one questions. You are an incredible group of people, and the research you do to help monitor the health of the Gulf is so important.  A special thank you to Scientist Dereke for being willing to pick up the ‘spicy’ fish so I could take pictures, and to Mo, the college student, for learning alongside me and teaching me about marine biology.  

Amelia takes a selfie in front of NOAA Ship Oregon II from the dock in Pascagoula. It is low tide, so the ship sits low compared to the dock and the hull is mostly out of sight. Amelia wears a maroon shirt that reads "There's No Place Like Home"

Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz, “there is no place like home.”  While I am happy to be back in Kansas and preparing for my next adventure at a new school, I know I will miss the people I met aboard Oregon II.  It truly became a home away from home.

Artist Highlight

Meet artist Sean Gronquist, a member of the NOAA crew. Sean uses the Japanese art of fish printing called Gyotaku. Gyo means fish and taku means rubbing. This traditional art form began as a way for fishermen to record their catches before photography and is still practiced today. https://ocean.si.edu/conservation/get-involved/educational-uses-gyotaku-or-fish-printing 

a man uses both hands to hold an unfurled piece of paper or perhaps a canvas displaying a black and white print of a dolphinfish. he has a serious expression. in front of him on a table, more artwork is rolled up on a wooden dowel.
Sean Gronquist displays a fish print of a dolphinfish

Activity Corner

Choose an ocean animal that interests you and do a little research. Where does it live? What adaptations help it survive? What role does it play in its ecosystem? 

Here is a website you can use to help you learn more about your ocean animal: https://oceanconservancy.org

You can also learn more about Gyotaku https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_mG-Ka4mv8&t=1s or even create your own fish print https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tI92lYwL8U  For younger children, I recommend using finger paints instead of traditional ink.

Book Recommendations 

The science team shared some of their favorite ocean-themed books for readers of all ages.  Whether you are just beginning to learn about marine life or you are looking for your next great read, I hope you find one that inspires you to learn more about our oceans. 

Lower Elementary

  • The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen 
  • The Cod’s Tale by Mark Kurlansky

Upper Elementary and Up

  • The Octopus Scientists: Exploring the Mind of a Mollusk by Sy Montgomery 
  • Why Fish Fart: Gross but True Things You’ll Wish You Didn’t Know by Francesca Gould

Middle School and up

  • Octopus: The Ocean’s Intelligent Invertebrate by Jennifer A. Mather
  • The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery

Nonfiction High School and up

  • What a Fish Knows by Jonathan Balcombe 
  • Emperors of the Deep by William McKeever 
  • Longitude by Dava Sobel
  • So Excellent a Fishe by Archie Carr
  • A Shadow and a Song by Mark Jerome Walters

Fiction High School and up

  • Andy Weir: The Martian or Project Hail Mary
  • Merfolk by Jeremy Bates 

Nonfiction Adult 

  • Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky
  • The Reef: A Passionate History by Iain McCalman  
  • The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales
  • Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith 
  • Rachel Carson’ ‘s The Sea Around Us or Silent Spring 

Adult Fiction Books

  • The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman 
  • The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler 
  • Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Did You Know?

Oregon II will welcome another NOAA Teacher at Sea at the end of July for Longline Survey. It will be a different science team, but I hear they will be catching lots of sharks and snappers! Follow the NOAA Teacher at Sea Blog to continue the adventure.

Adventure awaits! 

¡La aventura te espera!

Sources

https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/technology/ctd/
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/science-data/oceanographic-and-ecosystem-sampling-during-pacific-hake-survey
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/ocean-fact/ctd/
https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/indicators-conductivity
https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/expedition-feature/19gulfofalaska-logs-july26-2/ https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2021-07/parameter-factsheet_turbidity.pdf 

Posted on

Lesley Urasky: Do You See What the Pisces “Hears”?, June 22, 2012

NOAA Teacher at Sea
Lesley Urasky
Aboard the NOAA ship Pisces
June 16 – June 29, 2012

Mission:  SEAMAP Caribbean Reef Fish Survey
Geographical area of cruise: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Date: June 22, 2012

Location:
Latitude: 18.5472
Longitude: -65.1325

Weather Data from the Bridge:

Air Temperature: 28.6°C (83.5°F)
Wind Speed:  9 knots (10.5 mph), Beaufort scale: 3
Wind Direction: from SE
Relative Humidity: 77%
Barometric Pressure: 1,014.80  mb
Surface Water Temperature: 28.1°C (82.6°F)

Science and Technology Log

Another aspect (much more technical) of the scientific research conducted on this cruise is the collection of acoustic data.  This field is continually evolving as the detection resolution improves allowing scientists to more precisely identify fish.  This has been used with more success in fisheries farther north because the schools of fish are more likely to be monospecific (a single species).  However, the technique still needs improvement in warmer waters where the fish assemblages tend to be multi-specific (having a much greater variety of fish).

General idea behind an acoustic sounder being used to detect fish. (Source: www.biosonicinc.com)

This field of study is called Hydroacoustics (hydro- means water, and acoustics refers to sound).   It is the science of  how sound moves through water. Leonardo da Vinci noticed how sound travels through water in 1490.  He noticed that, “If you cause your ship to stop and place the head of a long tube in the water and place the outer extremity to your ear, you will hear ships at a great distance from you.” (Urick, Robert J. Principles of Underwater Sound, 3rd Edition. New York. McGraw-Hill, 1983.)  World War I helped promote innovation in the field, especially with the need for anti-submarine detection devices (Wood, A. B., From the Board of Invention and Research to the Royal Naval Scientific Service, Journal of the Royal Naval Scientific Service Vol 20, No 4, pp 1-100 (185-284)).

Hydroacoustic instruments utilize SOund Navigation and Ranging, more commonly referred to as SONAR.  The ship Pisces is equipped with a system located on the center board; this is a flat structure that can be raised/lowered through the water column beneath the center of the ship.

Line drawing of the NOAA ship Pisces showing the location of the center board.

The system used is a sonar beam that is split into quadrants.  This instrument is used to assist in determining fish abundance and distribution.  The premise is relatively simple: an echo sounder transmits a pulse of energy waves (sound), when the pulse strikes an object, it is reflected (bounced) back to the transducer.  The echo sounder is then processed and sent to a video display.  This is the same general process behind the recreationally available fishfinder.

Acoustic beam split into quadrants (Source: http://www.htisonar.com

A short burst of energy is focused into a narrow beam.  When this beam encounters an object such as a fish, a school of fish, plankton, or other object, some of the energy bounces back up through the water to the transducer.   It is the detection of these reflections that allow scientists to determine location, size, and abundance of fish.  These reflections show up on our video monitor.  These measurements are combined with groundtruthed data (for example, fish collected in the field, camera images).

One of the difficulties in data interpretation is that often, the signals that appear on the computer monitor have false readings.  This is a result of the sound wave bouncing multiple times.  It travels to the bottom from the transducer, strikes an object, returns to the ship, bounces off the ship back toward the bottom, strikes another object, and is detected yet again.

Real-time annotated echogram at sampling site.

The Pisces is actually home to one of six multi-beam acoustic instruments in the world.  Of the six in existence, NOAA has five of them.  The benefit of running a multi-beam instrument is that each beam can be set to measure a different frequency (kHz), thus enabling detection of many more features (different species of fish, etc.)

Scientific multibeam echo sounder (Source: www. simrad.com)

Personal Log

Last night the crew of the Pisces carried out a task that they don’t normally perform.  The Pisces was created for fisheries research projects – it focuses on collecting fish samples either by bandit reel, longline, or trawling.  This particular operation was to deploy the anchor for a buoy that will be attached at a later date.  When the buoy is ready to be attached, another vessel will bring it out to the site and divers will go down to the anchor to make the final attachment.

The anchor consists of a huge rebar-reinforced concrete block with a very long chain that has marker floats attached at the end.  Logistically, this took some planning; the A-frame had to be raised and the anchor lifted with the Gilson winch with a 1″ spectra line (has an enormous tensile strength).  The gate to the ship’s ramp was lowered and the A-frame (or as the deck hands call it, the “Tuna Tower”)  repositioned so the anchor was hanging over the water.  The rope holding the anchor, chain, and float was cut through, and the anchor plunged to the ocean bottom.  Again, the crew made the operation go smoothly and demonstrated their ability to complete unexpectedly assigned tasks.

Today was a slow fishing day – no fish at all.  Without any fish to “work up” (collect samples from), the day goes more slowly and we have more down time.  With the extra time, I had a chance to interview Kevin Rademacher, the Chief Scientist on the cruise.

LU: What is your official job title and what are your job duties?

KR: I’m a Research Fisheries Biologist.  I work for the Reef Fish Unit at the NOAA Fisheries Lab in Pascagoula, MS.  I am the Senior Tape Reader/Reviewer, in charge of the readers that analyze  the video data we collect from Reef Fish Surveys.  I also help plan, organize, and run the surveys.  Additionally, I participate in trawl surveys and anything else the lab needs done.

LU: When did you first become interested in the ocean and marine sciences?

KR: I guess that would have been when I was really young.  There is a photo from the Panama City, Florida newspaper, two weeks after I was born with my parents pulling me in a homemade wagon along the beach!  I knew in junior high school that I wanted to be a cross between Jacques Cousteau and Marlin Perkins of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

LU: It’s such a broad field; how did you narrow your focus down to what you’re currently doing?

KR: I got lucky and kind of fell into reading underwater videos at the initial stages of the project and fell in love with being the proverbial “fly on the wall”! It has allowed me to see the fish in their natural  habitat, different color phases, behavior, etc.

LU: If you were to go into another area of ocean research, what would it be?

KR: Marine Mammal Studies.  After college I trained dolphins and sea lions and put on shows with them for a local Oceanarium on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

LU: What is the biggest challenge in your job?

KR: Communicating with people and writing papers.

Ariane Frappier and Kevin Rademacher reviewing a dichotomous key in order to determine the species of a fish we caught.

LU: What do you think is the biggest issue of contention in your field?

KR: The impression that commercial fishermen have regarding the work we do to regulate the fisheries they work in.

LU: What are some effects of climate change that you’ve witnessed during your career in fisheries research?

KR: The decline of coral reefs and overfishing of some species.

LU: In what areas of marine science do you foresee a lot of career paths and job opportunities?

KR: Ecosystem management and data modelers.  There has also been a decline in taxonomists over the past few decades.

LU: How would you explain your work to a layperson?

KR: I use underwater cameras to help assess populations of reef fish, especially snappers and groupers.  The data collected is used to manage those fisheries.

LU: If a high school student wanted to go into your field of study/marine science in general, what kinds of courses would you recommend they take?

KR: Math, Biology, Chemistry, and any other science courses available.

LU: Do you recommend students interested in your field pursue original research as high school students or undergraduates?  If so, what kind?

KR: Most definitely! Whatever they are interested in would be beneficial.

Well, only two more days left with the scientists before we pull into San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We have 17 more daytime sites to sample and then this survey will be over.  The scientific crew will be flying home on the 25th, and once home, their work will really begin.  Back in the lab, they will be analyzing the data and reviewing the video.  Some of them will be going back out on other cruises.  Kevin Rademacher will be going out on another reef fish survey in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.  It is currently delayed because of the potential formation of tropical storm Debby.  Joey Salisbury has a couple more; he will be going on a longline cruise and then another reef fish survey, both of which will be in the Gulf of Mexico.  Arian Frappier will be heading off to begin a masters program in marine systems and coastal studies at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

After a day’s shore leave in San Juan, I’ll continue on to Mayport on the Pisces.  During this time, I’ll focus on the crew members and their jobs.  The cruise will definitely take on a different feel at this point, but it will give me an opportunity to explore other ocean related careers.