Marine Discovery Centre in Henley, Australia

Hi Sea Fans!

Ok, so I'm getting another post in before the end of Jan - phew!  Tim from Henley, South Australia, invited me to come and see what they get up to and boy, was my visit an adventure.

They have Port Jackson sharks (very cool),

Photo: Richard Ling

seahorses, porcupine fish, trumpeters, bream and a blue devil from their local marine waters, River Murray Cod,

Photo: Codman at en.wikipedia

silver perch and yabbies (freshwater crayfish).

I got to try out their video-microscope which the learners use to look at beach combing items like crabs, Great White Shark teeth, seadragons, sea stars and much, much more.

I also tested their new interactive models which they design and develop themselves (very cool job!),

Go to http://www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au/Marine_Discovery/models/Models.html to see more!!!

their Diving website game and I caught up with their awesome volunteers (Tim reckons they're the best in the world : )).

Thanks so much Tim, it's always so interesting seeing animals from another country.

Have a look at their website (http://www.mdca.org.au/centres/henley-beach/) if you'd like to know more (I DEFINITELY recommend checking out their interactive models on the website) or if you'd just like to play some games:  http://www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au/Marine_Discovery/games/WhoEatsWho.html

Enjoy the weekend and chat soon Sea Fans!
Cheers
Abby
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How did I miss December???

Hi Sea Fans!

I see that I didn't even get around to one single blog in Dec...and now I'm only going to have one in Jan.  So sorry to leave you hanging guys, I've been running around quite a bit.  From the US to Australia and back AND I'm trying to organise my next few stops in the US and then where I'll be going to after that.

Let me get you up to date first:

AUSTRALIA
I visited Tim at Tagai State College where he showed me how the students have been monitoring Seagrass for the last 8 years at the same locations (places).  The monitoring is done to pick up if there is any change in the meadow (the patch of Seagrass).  The way they do it is by taking photos in a set pattern (quadrants) so that they can make sure that it's done in the same way each time.

Here I am sitting next to a photo marker next to one of the squares (quadrants) in a Seagrass meadow.

Thanks to Tim and the Tagai students, nice to do something different again.

USA
I've been to Miami Seaquarium and the University of Miami to check out their nudibranch, cobia (a type of fish) and coral research.  For some silly reason, I don't have my pics sorted yet so I'll get those posted ASAP.  Thanks for hosting me Mark!

ANTARCTICA
I've got more photos coming for this trip too.

Have a great week Sea Fans and chat soon.
Cheers
Abby
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