Charlotte Heacock - I can see the light

After over a month of dissecting, cleaning, bleaching, drying, and sectioning, I am finally nearing the end as I have moved on to the reading phase. You read the vertebrae almost like you would age a tree, you look for dark and light calcification bands that are deposited dude to changing water temperatures and calcium levels during different seasons. One light band signifies one year of age. I have around 150 vertebrae to read, some vertebrae's lines are very clear and distinct and other are horrendous and have little to no visible lines. After reading all the vertebrae I will do some modeling of the sizes and ages of the rays.

I am also currently preparing for a week-long trip out to Orpheus Island with the lab where I will do some diving and catch and tagging of rays for some of the PhD students' projects. Although working in the lab has been incredible I can't wait to get out in the field and get my hands dirty.

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Peddie EXP Summer 2018

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