Life on the gulf coast

Well I'm now a resident of the Gulf Coast. At least for the summer. I started the Sharks and Rays class at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, or as we call it, DISL. Its mainly been a lot of lecture but Monday afternoon we learned how to identify sharks using a dichotomous key.



















Today we disected an Atlantic Sharpnose shark. Got to get all dirty learning about the internal anatomy.

Below is a picture of the jaws of a Great White Shark. Pretty massive.



















Tomorrow is our first day in the field and we will be gill netting sharks somewhere in the waters around Dauphin Island.

Well, I'm off to sleep before our adventure tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some cool stories tomorrow to post about.

photos by Eric Beasley