Daily Archives: July 12, 2026

Day 22: Inside our Shells

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by Kate, Una, Gabe, and Addy

Today was another productive day working on data collection for our independent research projects, whether it was out in the field or in our own shells at the lab. For Silas, Eva, Gabe, Maxene, Violet, and Una, it was another early morning in the fields. The rest of us got to sleep in (8:00 AM) before we all worked on our respective projects.

A red-gilled nudibranch found at Fourth of July Bach this morning. Photo credit: Silas
Addy is hugging her bucket of acid, which is essential to her project. She is studying how crab molts dissolve in different pH levels. Photo credit: Una
Silas is hard at work measuring the salinity of his soil samples. Photo credit: Una

Currently, most students’ projects are producing some fascinating results. Everyone is shelled up in their lab stations and working hard to collect data. Some students have even began to work on their final posters. Tomorrow will be the last day for data collection in the fields. Next, we headed over to meet with Chas Lawson, the farm production manager at Wescott Bay Shellfish Farm.

Juvenile oysters at Wescott Bay! The attach themselves to older oyster shells to develop. Photo credit: Una
Gabe is ecstatic he found a new belt at the consignment store he stopped by on the way back from Wescott Bay. Photo credit: Una

Later today, Dr. Rebecca Varney will be joining us for dinner! She specializes in studying eukaryotic extremophiles in both freshwater and marine systems. Extremophiles are any kind of life that specializes in extremely hostile environments. Such as tube worms that filter chemicals from deep sea vents.