I survived Shark Camp.....
Aug. 31st, 2003 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishWell, it wasn't so bad - I only hemmed and hawed a few times - the adults looked kind of bored, but the kids were excited. ER had given me a set of cards that went along with the display materials, and a DVD of PG doing the show as well. The only thing was PG has done this program for years, and he did topics in a slightly different order and included more tidbits of info that weren't on the cards - stuff that I knew, but it wasn't on the tip of my brain as I did it. By the end, I was rushing, becasue it was getting dark and there were no light in the little amphitheater, and I still had to put all the stuff away when the people left. But later, people running the show told me I did a good job
Angus and Gareth came along at the invitation of JS, the biologist putting on the program, and behaved themselves for the most part. Gareth kept wanting to answer questions I asked, and once he forgot he was supposed to be sitting, but overall they were good. After the show, we joined the rest of the kids on the dock fishing for small sharks, rays and flatfish. The pole was really to long for them to hold comfortably so I held it near the reel with one hand and they held it farther down. All I managed to catch was a bit of algae.
JS drafted me into demonstrating tagging of a gray smoothhound shark (like trying to measure a live snake) and a California halibut. While I was peering at the measuring board see how long it was in millimeters, the halibut gave a headfirst jerk out of my slippery hands, and leaped over the end of the board back into the tank. They had to catch him a again before I could tag him.
I also got to point out how to tell a male shark, skate or ray from a female (males have "claspers" on their pelvic fins), and the tail spines on a stingray - the fellow I used for a model had two, one on top of the other. A new one grows out underneath and the upper one is eventually shed.
All the fish were released back into Upper Newport Bay, and the program ended. The crescent moon was setting as we walked back to the car. Gareth fell so soundly asleep on the way home I had to carry him back in the house. Angus for some reason got it into his head that "sharks eat people!" which was exactly opposite of the point I was trying to make, but he has a tendency to be contrary for the sheer hell of it sometimes.
Angus and Gareth came along at the invitation of JS, the biologist putting on the program, and behaved themselves for the most part. Gareth kept wanting to answer questions I asked, and once he forgot he was supposed to be sitting, but overall they were good. After the show, we joined the rest of the kids on the dock fishing for small sharks, rays and flatfish. The pole was really to long for them to hold comfortably so I held it near the reel with one hand and they held it farther down. All I managed to catch was a bit of algae.
JS drafted me into demonstrating tagging of a gray smoothhound shark (like trying to measure a live snake) and a California halibut. While I was peering at the measuring board see how long it was in millimeters, the halibut gave a headfirst jerk out of my slippery hands, and leaped over the end of the board back into the tank. They had to catch him a again before I could tag him.
I also got to point out how to tell a male shark, skate or ray from a female (males have "claspers" on their pelvic fins), and the tail spines on a stingray - the fellow I used for a model had two, one on top of the other. A new one grows out underneath and the upper one is eventually shed.
All the fish were released back into Upper Newport Bay, and the program ended. The crescent moon was setting as we walked back to the car. Gareth fell so soundly asleep on the way home I had to carry him back in the house. Angus for some reason got it into his head that "sharks eat people!" which was exactly opposite of the point I was trying to make, but he has a tendency to be contrary for the sheer hell of it sometimes.
