Today we started the day cleaning the coral trees that RIMS is growing in their coral nursery. The trees are made of PVC pipes that are put together to form branches.  On the branches are fragments of staghorn or elkhorn coral that grow tied to the branches until they are large enough to be out planted on the reef.  Staghorn and elkhorn corals are the main corals being grown because they are vital in building the reef. They also provide protection for the coastline as they absorb about 90% of the wave energy that comes crashing towards shore. We cleaned the trees with brushes to rid the branches, trunk, and ties of algae and predators in order to keep the corals as healthy as possible. These trees are providing a restoration for Roatan’s reefs around the island as much of the reefs are deteriorating. 

For our second dive of the day, we visited the dive site Tuk’s Treasure to conduct our first research dive.  Each group collected data for their individual research projects. These projects include lionfish abundance, damselfish age abundance, parrotfish density and coral abundance, and species richness at cleaning stations. Back on the island, we attended a fish identification lecture by a dive instructor here at Anthony’s Key.  We are all looking forward to our early rise in the morning for our shark dive on the south end of the island as well as potential gathering more data for our research projects.