Course Day on the Wrong Day

The weather was awful yesterday and today was supposed to be even worse. The schedule was adjusted accordingly. Today, we had course day which is normally held on Friday. We had lectures on aquarium maintenance, shark husbandry, and a basic introduction to GIS. During the lecture on sharks, we discussed tonic immobility. Tonic immobility is a state where the shark goes entirely limp, almost playing dead, in fact. It's incredibly useful for researchers or aquarists because it enables handling the shark easily without using anesthetics. Also, with many of the small sharks, putting them into tonic is as easy as turning them over for a few seconds. In a Great White, it's even easier. By simply pushing back their rostrum, they'll often go into tonic. Because of this, it's quite a simple matter to accidentally put a Great White into tonic when it bites onto the bait on the bait line. However, since tonic wears off quite quickly when the shark is out of the specific position, accidentally causing tonic for a Great White in the open water isn't a problem.

If the weather does what it's predicted to do, it should clear up tomorrow and we'll be back to our normal work. The wind had slacked off this afternoon but, since it's picking up again, I'm not particularly expecting to wake up to a brilliant sunny day. 

Stacey, Jason, and Noah watch Allan demonstrate how to put a shark
 into tonic.