Now that I have finished Uni for the year, I have even more spare time than ever. (Yay!)
Last week I began helping out at MERIP, the Marine Environment Research Institute of Pohnpei, which is directed by a couple of our friends. I volunteered to help them with their coral farms, and have spent a couple of days already herding and milking the little blighters...
Last week I began helping out at MERIP, the Marine Environment Research Institute of Pohnpei, which is directed by a couple of our friends. I volunteered to help them with their coral farms, and have spent a couple of days already herding and milking the little blighters...
Actually, it is an intriguing cross between working with animals and plants. The corals are seeded from cuttings taken from broodstock, and 'planted' amongst a substrate on racks submerged in the lagoon; but they are animals, sort of...
They get a bit scummy underwater, so the job of grooming them is important, and that is what I have been doing thus far. Normally you don't touch living things too much when you are diving, and it was a little disconcerting to find that these soft corals feel just like human skin, and are a slightly pink colour, and some also grow in hand/finger-like configurations.
The coral is also farmed independently by Pohnpeian farmers, with assistance from MERIP, and eventually sold to aquarium suppliers in the US. Fun!
Ben
They get a bit scummy underwater, so the job of grooming them is important, and that is what I have been doing thus far. Normally you don't touch living things too much when you are diving, and it was a little disconcerting to find that these soft corals feel just like human skin, and are a slightly pink colour, and some also grow in hand/finger-like configurations.
The coral is also farmed independently by Pohnpeian farmers, with assistance from MERIP, and eventually sold to aquarium suppliers in the US. Fun!
Ben
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