Weekly urchin - new toy edition

Part of my job as coordinator of the Undergraduate Center for Marine Life Sciences is to purchase equipment that could be used by students and faculty for research. The newest edition to the Center is a Sea & Sea DX-1G digital underwater camera and strobe. It seems on first inspection to be a marvelous piece of equipment. (Thanks, Rick, for using your power and influence to coerce some useful camera feedback from your "peeps" for me)


The second the battery finished charging, I grabbed the camera and headed down to the RWU wetlab to try it out. I must say that I'm really impressed with the quality of the images this camera takes, especially since these test shots were taken with me just sticking the camera into a bunch of tanks, hoping I was focusing on something, and using only the built-in flash instead of the big strobe. With some fine-tuning I think this will take some phenomenal shots out in the field.

First up, Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis, of course:

Here's an oyster toadfish trying to hide:

Apparently tautog like to snuggle with toadfish:

Lined seahorse:

Fire shrimp:

Baby Juvenile jawfish:

The clownfish thought I was going to feed them: