My first day in the lab was very nerve wrecking. The few hours before going to the lab, I Met with Dr. Mozzachiodi to discuss all the background information that would help me get through these next few weekends in his Lab. As he walked me down to the Science building I donned my lab coat and prepared to enter into their ‘hare habitat/storage room’ taken over with fish tanks filled to the top (literally ) with the sea hares. Each were in their own containers and each had various color coding on their boxes.
I then was taken to the research lab. This is where i met Dr. Wainwright. From here she took over getting me comfortable in handling the sea hares. I learned where to handle them so they were relaxed and calm and where on their bodies would put them in defense mode and possibly ink me.- speaking of ink not even a minute later I got to see what the sea hares ink looked like. oh! it is such a vibrant purple!
Sea Hare after it inks
At the point was when I was shown the different body parts of the sea hare to help me keep up tomorrow when I come back to work with my fellow TAMUCC students who are conducting their research on these little hares. Shortly after this we prepared for the activities for the next day where I am planning to help with some experiments.
Very eager and very excited!