By Naomi, Ashley, and Jesse

**Broadcasting from Team Bottlenose Dolphins…

First thing Monday morning we logged in to the Zoom call and were greeted with a view of the Salish seas from the dock where the necropsy of an adult harbor seal and two pups would be taking place. Not long after 9:00, Dr. Joe Gaydos and his team began the pre-examination of the adult harbor seal. One of the few signs of death was the blood coming from a small laceration in the seal’s head. The team was also able to notice a larger bump around the lower part of the seal, meaning it was likely pregnant or had a tumor. They tapped on the belly, and the jiggly consistency led them to believe that the seal was either pregnant or had lots of internal bleeding. It turned out to be the latter. As they made the first incision across the top of its back and measured the seal’s blubber layer, blood started to pour out of the carcass. From the moment the seal was opened, Dr. Gaydos immediately began making guesses as to how the seal died. It could have been hypovolemia as there was internal bleeding throughout its body (even in the chest cavity), trauma such as the seal hitting its head (possibly causing the internal bleeding), infections in organs such as the uterus, or other underlying causes such as disease. Throughout the necropsy, Dr. Gaydos cut off samples of different organs of the seal and placed them in a jar filled with formalin in order to preserve them for further testing. Even though they are in the same jar, they will all look unique under the microscope. Dr. Gaydos placed certain organs in plastic bags for bacteria testing, and he even took teeth samples in order to determine the age of the seal. Scientists at another lab would cut open the tooth and count the number of rings on it to tell the age, not dissimilar to how one would tell the age of a tree. Dr. Gaydos went on to show us signs of the seal twisting and turning before it died. This was clear to see because of the way the intestines and other organs were all mixed up and in the wrong place. We were also able to see other vital organs such as the eyes and brain throughout the necropsy. Although we were not actually on-site, Derek and Kay informed us of the funky smell coming from the seal, that was strong even when spectating from afar.

When Dr. Gaydos was finished with the adult, he and his team went on to dissect two seal pups. Both stranded, one was found seizing (possibly due to trauma of glucose imbalances). The other pup was found with a swollen nose due to a mink bite. The team made the decision to euthanize the pup with the mink bite when it was first found in order to put it out of its misery. Using a similar chemical to the ones used to put down pets, they euthanized the pup in order to match nature (natural selection). To ensure that the chemicals from the euthanization would not leak into the ocean, Dr. Gaydos and the other experts decided to perform the necropsy within a plastic bag.

Halfway through dissecting the second pup, Derek’s phone ran out of battery, and the video resultantly stopped streaming. Due to this technical issue, we had to head out to lunch instead of watching the rest of the necropsy. After coming back from lunch, we reflected on the necropsy; some of us hadn’t seen a dissection of a seal before but we were glad to have this opportunity. We then discussed the different ways Dr. Gaydos examined the seal and how he had observed the trauma the seals had gone through.

Our next task was learning the knot of the day – the double fisherman knot. Some of us had trouble figuring it out, but we will continue to practice it along with the other knots we have previously learned. 

Later in the day, we learned about Carl Linnaeus and his work in taxonomy throughout his life. After learning about him, we (the Bottlenose Dolphins) created a Kahoot game about Carl Linnaeus for the Makos, Derek, and Kay. After the fun round of Kahoot, we finished the PowerPoint Kay was presenting and learned how to identify different species of animals. After the presentation, we set off to collect data on 10 different species of animals, bugs, or plants we could find in our own environment. We then inputted our data and compared it to what others had found. Our final activity of the way was analyzing the data we collected from last Friday. Thanks to Derek’s help inputting data into an nMDS chart, we were able to compare our data and find the differences.

We wrapped up the day by sharing our joys and challenges with the rest of the group; although we had a few challenges throughout the day like Derek’s phone dying, it didn’t stop us from having a fun time!