Rewind: Hawaii Bioblitz 2017

Way back in the spring of 2017 we teamed up with the University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and the Smithonian’s MarineGEO program to conduct a biodiversity survey of Kaneohe Bay off of Oahu.

photo of Oahu from the water. big, blue sky — Kaneohe Bay looking towards Oahu

We stayed at the HIMB marine lab on Coconut Island with several expeditions each day bringing back samples. There were several groups with different areas of expertise looking at different aspects of biodiversity, we were, not surprisingly, on the invertebrate team.

There was adventure…

group of divers on the boat after a dive — fresh off a dive

Danger…

burned and melted giant battery — probably fine

Special effects…

smoke comming out of cryo shipping container — the shipping container for the RNA samples is a bit of a drama queen

Excitement…

neat, orderly vials of different colored sediment — rare photo of sediment samples in the wild

Data…

station notes on a white — all those collecting sites aren’t going to remember themselves

And invertebrates…

examples of specimens in the field — *Disporella*

Lots…

of…

invertebrates…

There was also a lot of cavalier togetherness. It was a different time.

view of the busy and crowded lab — threat level magenta by 2020 standards

This trip generated thousands of specimens, sequences and photos. It can (and usually does) take years to wade through all those data. But with time away from physical specimens, data-wading moves to the top of many to-do lists. In addition to the updating of our database with new IDs, photos, and sequence information, Gustav recently compiled this photo checklist of invertebrates from the trip: Invertebase Hawaii Bioblitz Checklist. Take a look to see if we found your favorite Hawaiian marine invertebrate.

🙂 Mandy