USFSP Week 3

The trip to St. Petersburg held lots of new things for me. This is the first time I have ever been on a research vessel for one, but also using all the sampling equipment. The most interesting thing to me was when I found how many different sampling methods there are, including dredging, otter trawling, plankton towing, and testing for water chemistry. I feel as though the most challenging part of the week was trying to identify all the species we pulled up. I learned that identifying shells is actually a process taken by scientists, and that there are a lot of different types of shells. The most exciting part of the week for me was when the second otter trawl came up and seeing all the fish we caught. It was very exciting to see that our nets caught so much! Overall, I thought this week was a lot of fun and that the Weatherbird II is an amazing vessel.