For the second year in a row Shaun and Tommy went to the CRIOBE research station on the island of Moorea to work with Suzie Mills, Ricardo Beldade, and PhD student Daphne Cortese. This time they were also accompanied by Amelie Crespel. Once again the goal was to carryout a range of studies looking at how factors such as flow rate and anenome bleaching affect young clownfish. Thanks to all for an incredibly fun and productive trip!
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Moorea
Shaun Killen recently returned from a two-week stint working with colleagues Suzie Mills and Ricardo Beldade at CRIOBE (shown above), on the beautiful Tahitian island of Moorea in French Polynesia. Accompanying Shaun was IBAHCM Research Fellow Tommy Norin, who will remain in Moorea until mid-December (poor guy).
The main focus of the collaboration is to study the factors that influence the dispersal of clownfish larvae after they hatch and leave their nest. In particular, the aim was to see how the metabolism and swimming ability of the larvae changes throughout their early development, to understand whether the little guys are able to control their own destiny by swimming faster than the prevailing currents.
Other projects underway with the team include understanding how anenomes affect routine oxygen uptake in their resident clownfish, and studies to examine how various environmental stressors affect metabolic rate in sea hares.