MOTE interns wrap up studies on Pine Island
Hailing from Michigan, Pennsylvania and northern Florida, three interns were selected to participate in various projects under the guidance of Aaron Adams with MOTE Marine at its Pine Island lab. Liz Roberts, Jessy Adass and Katie Coyne spent 10 weeks of their summer break from college studying various aspects of the snook residing in and around PIne Island Sound.
Roberts’ project was to understand the snook habitat and how the fish react to it.
“It has been documented that snook return to the same place to spawn each year and while all snook start out as males, once they reach a certain size, some of the fish will become females ready to reproduce,” Roberts said. “We concluded that the fish, in fact, do return to the same areas to spawn and the fish measuring 600 mm were probably females. We also found that it was critical for a successful spawn that it was synchronized.”
Coyne focused her research on if or how the tides and moon phases affected the snook spawn.
“We concentrated on inlets and the areas of Blind Pass, Redfish Pass and Boca Grande Pass. We followed fish activity by picking up their movement with radio receivers,” said Coyne. “We did find some connection to the lunar phases, but felt that light pollution from coastal development could also affect the spawn much the same way as it does with sea turtles. Our study was consistent with the data that was collected during a similar study conducted in 2000.”
Coyne also said that the fish still displayed no particular pattern regardless of size.
Adass’ project was to study adult snook which spawn in creeks.
“We observed fish in four different creeks to determine whether or not these fish would home-back to their juvenal haunts.” said Adass. “We also used the radio tags to monitor movement and found that most did return to the same general areas. We also discovered that these fish like to winter in the mangroves as well.”
Adass’ study proved that nearly all of her tagged fish displayed homing behaviors regardless of the size of the fish and very few tended to relocate. It also appears that homing habits increased with the age of the fish.
According to the interns, the PIT tags, or passive integrated transponders, used to monitor fish movement are inserted just beneath the skin of the fish and allows them to be tracked using antennas positioned at various location in Pine Island Sound.
“The small PITs can be easily placed under the skin of the fish and requires no stitches and has proved to be harmless,” said Coyne. “For some of the larger fish we caught for tagging, we had a larger PIT attached to the base of the dorsal fin and this does require about three stitches but these, too, are harmless and we have found no mortality as a result of tagging with the PIT.”
Coyne also said that the tagged and recaptured fish all displayed the same habits and would stay pretty close to the areas where they were first captured.
Finishing up their research last week, the interns will now return home to prepare for their final year in college.
Roberts will be attending Juniata College in Pennsylvania and is pursuing a degree in environmental sciences with a focus on water resources.
Coyne attends the University of Florida and is majoring in wildlife ecology and minoring in zoology. She also plans to further her education by attending graduate school on completion of her studies at UF.
Adass attends Lawrence University in Wisconsin with a major in biology and minor in film. She, too, plans to attend graduate school to study the field of marine biology and hopes to one day produce films on marine life.
The MOTE intern program allows college students and recent college grads to obtain first-hand experience in oceanic science, research and conservation. More than 125 students participate in the MOTE internship program each year in a variety of departments in the MOTE Laboratory system.