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Phillip & Patricia Frost Museum of Science - Angeline Alvarez, week 3

 Yesterday marked the end of my third week. I have no words to describe how awesome this week was. For the first time, I was exposed constantly to something that I am very passionate about: nature and animals. To explain what I did this week, I will explain the layout of the museum and the tasks that I did/helped.


At the Frost Museum, we have five floors, each floor has a different exhibits and animals. This week I will focus on the animal side. 

5th Floor

We have the WetLab, which is a research room, where we grow corals and test the conditions of every tank in the museum. In here I spent some time helping Natalia feed the Pilar Corals, which are extinct in the wild. 

4th Floor 

On this floor we can find "The Vista", which is a combination of various marine habitats. We have an aviary, which focuses on the beach and mangrove habitats with different fish like tarpon, and birds like spoonbills. There is also a Stingray touch exhibit and the Gulf Stream exhibit, in where you can find two Sandbar Sharks, one Hammerhead, five Rays, our iconic turtle Miko and a lot of small fishes. 

Scoop the Spoonbill


The Vista floor was probably one of my favorite floors in the museum, because you have a lot of tasks to do, and you can interact directly with the animals. Some of my tasks were to feed the fish, help recollect the plates from the birds and clean the acrylics, so the visitor could have a better view of the animals inside the water. 


Here I was cleaning the acrylic in the alligator's exhibit

This floor also includes the husbandry office. In here I often helped to prepare fish and shrimp for the meals for the next day. Although this task was a little gross, but it felt nice that I could help my coworkers. 

3rd Floor

Continuing the journey we have "The Dive" in which we have multiple small tanks with various marine animals, including lobsters, beautiful corals, and my favorite: seahorses. In this floor every morning, we cleaned the acrylics of the tanks inside and out using large scrapers to remove algae. This do not only allow the visitor to see the animals, but it also ensures that the organisms are healthy and happy.  If I am honest, it took me a long time to be able to do this, it was until Wednesday that I finally felt the confidence to do it without fearing to mess up something. 

The Eel was mad at us,
after disturbing him so much ;(
In this area I also accompanied some of my coworkers to feed the tanks. Something that I will always remember of the Frost Museum when I go back to visit is how on my last day with the husbandry department, I spend more than an hour trying to catch a Moray Eel. At the end we didn't catch it, he/she hided inside the rocks and it was impossible to reach. 


2nd Floor

Sea nettle jelly🙀



Here "The Deep" is located, in which we have three tanks with jellyfish. I love is Jellyfishes, so anytime they said they needed help or that they were going to work on the tanks on that floor I tagged alone with them. A couple of times I accompanied Jake to feed the Moon Jellies, Sea Nettle Jellies and the Bubbler Jellies. Watching them is relaxing. 




1st Floor

Great Barrier Reef Exhibit, in here I fed the fish a couple of times and also saw their Spotted Dogfish. They are absolutely beautiful and tiny. 


Reflection

This week was a beautiful week. Every day I woke up at 5 a.m. to arrive on time to our 6 a.m. meeting and then leave around 3:30 p.m. It was exhausting doing this for an entire week. However, each time I looked at the sunrise and at the beautiful creatures that were next to me I realize that it was worth it. Whether getting splashed by Stingrays, smelling like fish after preparing meals, or patiently waiting to assist my coworkers, every experience was valuable. All of this was worth it, because I experienced and learnt something that I do not see daily. I am grateful to the Husbandry Department at the Frost Museum, thank you for letting me be part of your awesome team and the incredible things you do daily. 


Not exactly a sunrise, but you get the idea.
Isn't it beautiful?

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