I was blind, but now I see

First, a fun fact!  Because I love fun facts:
Fish- singular or plural for one species
Fishes- referring to more than one species
You can thank me later... like when you win jeopardy with this bit of info.

My last post was talking about everything I have left to learn, and it's a lot.  So here's a quick update on my classes.

First Day of School was Tuesday! It's exciting every time! This month I'm taking Marine Vertebrates with Dr. Jim Morley. We will be having two exams, a lab practical, and a Species Collection for our grade, and our first exam is already on Friday. (Ahh! I'm about to be in study mode!)  But before then, we'll be starting our Species Collection.  I am in a group with Nicole and Matthew and together we make up the most ferocious team of future marine biologists named the "Majestic Manatees"... I know, we're the coolest people ever. All collection groups must collect at least 35 different species of fishes and correctly identify each of them, note the life-stage and habitat of the fish, and turn it all in on a super pretty powerpoint. We can also identify sea birds, turtles, and marine mammals for extra species.  The top rated collection group does not only receive bragging points, but we also get a 100% on our collection and can choose a question on the exam than we get automatic full points on.  The Majestic Manatees are not expert fishermen, but we will be putting up a fight to win this.  Watch out Mermen, Sardines, and Barracudas!

Other things! We visited the Estuarium on Friday!  It's a mini aquarium across from the Sea Lab, and I've been there and seen the fishes approximately one million times already, but I actually just saw these fishes for the first time on Friday. I mean, really saw them.  I had no idea how blind I was before, but this class makes me aware of everything!  What type of scales and teeth and fins, how they use them, why they use them the way they do. That might not seem that amazing to some of you, but that changes me looking at a "cute puffer fish" to looking at a "globiform fish with a low aspect ratio tail using undulating fin swimming specialized for maneuvering and a terminal mouth with cardiform dentition and scales that exhibit counter shading and disruptive coloration..." and that list could go on for AGES because I just started to tell you what the "cute puffer fish" looks like, not why it looks that way or how it's unique or how it shows how evolutionarily advanced it is or not.  I have been giving tours at the Georgia Aquarium since 2012, but if I was to give you a tour today, I promise you it could be about 5x longer from all of the cool things I learned this week.  This is from just two lecture days.  So much information is given to us so quickly, and it's so hands-on! I just love it! It makes me feel kind of brilliant, and there's still 7 weeks of it left! I'm going to be a marine biology genius by the time I'm done here.

First Field Trip! It's tomorrow, and we're going to Perdido Bay! We'll be leaving the Sea Lab at 8am and be there all day long. Hopefully we'll get some super cool fish for our collection groups! I know we're going to get a beautiful view and some quality snorkeling time!