Happy holidays

Wishing you all the best for the winter season and 2010!

wow!

There are zoanthids in Pinocchio, in the underwater scene!

Lab meeting on Dec. 18th, 2009

1. Tanks this week　- CA

2. Bonenkai (year-end party)　-on Dec. 21st
①at PIZZA IN; 7:30 PM~ Organizer: MM
②at KINOSHITAYA; 10:00 PM~　Organizer: HS

3. Announcements from CA
①. I will be sending sequences every Tuesday or Wednesday, so if you need to send please let me know before so we can both send.

②. From the beginning of January I want to start learning more japanese, so if one of the third years or someone is interested in improving your english please let me know. We will have to meet every week maybe for 2 hours and we can do half I learn japanese and half I help you with some english, or something like that. My english is not perfect I dont know much grammar, but I can help with pronunciation or even with english article.

Lab meeting on Dec. 9th, 2009

1. Tanks this week: YI

2. Terpios Project- MISE starts monitoring of Terpios in Okinawa, Japan. When you find Terpios in Okinawa, please inform JDR or MO. Ask JDR for more details.

3. JDR will go to Tokunoshima, Japan for sampling. If you are interested, let him know.

new MISE papers!

Three recent papers of ours have been accepted:

1.Frederic Sinniger, James Davis Reimer, Jan Pawlowski. The Parazoanthidae DNA taxonomy: description of two new genera. Marine Biodiversity (accepted).
2.James Davis Reimer, Shu Nakachi, Mamiko Hirose, Euichi Hirose, Shinji Hashiguchi. Using hydrofluoric acid for morphological investigations of zoanthids (Cnidaria: Anthozoa): a critical assessment of methodology and necessity. Marine Biotechnology (accepted).
3.James Davis Reimer. Key to field identification of shallow water brachycnemic zoanthids (Order Zoantharia: Suborder Brachycnemina) present in Okinawa. Galaxea (accepted).

Contact us for more information!

Lab meeting on Dec. 2nd, 2009

1. Tanks this week: YM

2. A new MISE research assistant: MH
- She will help lab work for 6 months.

3. Please move your DNA samples to the new freezer!

4. For the 3rd year students, If you want to get a teaching licence, please let JR know. You have to hand in papers by Dec. 10th.

5. We are going to have a year-end party of 2009. Please tell MM about your schedule.


Today's photo- Unknown Palythoa in Taiwan.

Heron Island day 18

Last full day on Heron!

Two dives, one at a "mystery bommie" not on the charts; very nice.

Stats:
Specimens: 268
Species: 18, 43 including morphs
Beers remaining: 3
Sharks seen while diving: 8 to 10
Deepest dive: 29.3
Shallowest dive: 2.2, plus intertidal walks
Best lunch: Tuna steak with wasabi mayo
Best dinner: Tough to call, but chicken and pasta?
Best dessert: Sticky date

Until next time...

Heron Island day 17

Second to last day of diving, visited Masthead Reef. Some samples, and a school of sweetlips hanging out under a bommie made the dives enjoyable.

Sunset drinks at the resort, and a great dinner (as usual with the chef's great talent!).

Stats:
Samples: 258
Beers left: 5 + some more with Kareen

Off to do laundry. Last post (?) from Heron tomorrow.

Heron Island days 15 and 16

Day 16: Windy and our first real rain here today. The island now smells like guano.

Spearfishing in the morning for fish parasites, followed by a single dive at North Wistari in the afternoon. No new species; two samples.

Dinner: Pork in bacon with rice and apples
Beers: 2
Papers accepted during this trip: 2
Coffees: 3
Chai: 2
Samples total: 247
Species: 17?
Sharks seen today: 1 gray

Two dives tomorrow, weather permitting. In the last four days, Aaron, Rae, Monika and Lynda have left. Gary leaves tomorrow!

Day 15: Great dive, one more zoanthid species! And a looooong nap (5 hours). Must have been tired.

Heron Island day 14

Very exciting dive today.

First dive was the channel, deep and interesting, but pretty mellow. No current, and only few samples. However, during the second and more shallow dive, a school of baitfish swam over me. Then, six gray sharks swam by me, and one hung around. They were eating the baitfish, and were very "alert", twitching as I breathed. Cool, but pretty scary, they were probably 20 feet from me. Needless to say, stuck with my buddy after that.

Stats:
Samples: 238
Species: 16?
Beers consumed: 35
Longest nap: 5 hours 10 minutes (today!).

See you tomorrow.

Heron Island day 13

Great dives today at Sykes, tomorrow looks like the weather is getting worse... First dive was a deep wall, followed by a shallow bommie dive. Lots of nice samples, especially on the shallow dive. Sunset swim and beer, great dinner (roast beef) and dessert.

Facts:
Samples: 223
Species: 16 or 17 - one new Zoanthus today (vietnamensis sensu Uchida)
Beers consumed: 31

Tomorrow is a 7 am start, so up at 6! Zzzz...

Heron Island day 12

Day 12; back on diving. Two dives, one shallow and one deep. Great samples from the deep dive, including the new species and some nice octocorals.

Samples: 204
Species: 15 or 16 (one mysterious sample today)

Dinner: Kangaroo!

Tomorrow is Sykes Reef again, our favourite spot thus far!

Heron Island day 11

Finally a day of rest - no diving! Caught up on laundry and other important things.... And had a nice snorkel on the reef in the afternoon.

Stats
Samples: 192
Species: 15

Dinner was a nice (sirloin?) steak, followed by dessert. Tomorrow is diving again, need to do more intertidal work as well.

Heron Island day 10

A bit late on the post today; we had a beach BBQ and small party last night. Today is a day in the lab, with an afternoon snorkel.

Yesterday; two dives on North Heron Reef at First Point. The current really picked up at the end of the first dive, thankfully the "Jesus Line" was out...

Update:

Samples: 172, still at 15 species.
Dive total: 19, 10 days in a row
Dinner: Steak and salad, beer, whisky

More later today.

Lab meeting on Nov 18th, 2009

1. Tanks this week: MM
2. Please move your all stuff from the old freezer to the new one.
3. Please help disposal of formalin.

Heron Island day 9

9th day of diving - back to Lamont Reef today. Found one more species, now have a total of 14 to 15 species!

Total samples: 164
Dives: 17
Laundry done: Once
Days since proper shoes have been worn: 6
Sleepiness: maximum

Tomorrow are 2 shallow dives, and then a beach party! Saturday is finally a day of rest.

Dinner: Chicken and beans, and the best dessert! Kudos to the chef.

Heron Island day 8; blog

Check out the CReefs blog:
http://www.aims.gov.au/creefs/latest-field-trip-heron-2009.html

Another day of diving.
Totals: 151 samples. 13-14 species.
Today: 5 new specimens of the "mystery" zoanthid!

Lots of great food.

Done for the day, beer and sunset, followed by lots of paperwork.

More tomorrow...

Heron Island day 7

Still diving...

Update: 138 specimens, 1 new species today.

Supposedly a turtle tried to mate with me yesterday, but I didn't even notice it right behind me as I sampled.

More dives tomorrow, but should be easy, second trip to Sykes.

off to bed soon!

Heron Island day 6

Lots of samples todays from two dives and an intertidal reef walk. Combined with 5 hours of sleep; one sleepy zoanthid researcher. Still have all the samples to process...

Update: 124 samples
Total species 11-12 (2 new today; Zoanthus vietnamensis, and "true" Palythoa mutuki.

Hope to make the sunset beer...

Heron Island day 5

Weather is still great. 8 of us went to Broomfield Reef for two dives. Not so many zoanthids, but still some nice samples. Spawn slicks on the way and back from the reef, stretching for kilometers. Mass spawning is massive on the GBR! The slick has a distinct smell as well.

Facts: zoanthid species: still at 9-10 (including 2 new)
total samples: 93

Watched a loggerhead sea turtle give birth today after dinner.

Dinner: Roast lamb.

Will try some intertidal tomorrow.

Heron Island day 4

Great day today! 30 samples. Dove the wall at Sykes Reef, lots of diversity, and rich reef. No wind, waves small - all in all great. Also, very cool morphotypes of Zoanthus, fluorescent orange with fluorescent yellow tentacles.

Facts: zoanthid species: 9-10 (including 2 new)

Tomorrow - up at 6 am; these CReefs trips are intense and fun.

Did I mention dinner? Steak and lobster.

Urp.

JDR

Heron Island day 3

Zoanthid facts from Creefs Heron Island 2009
Species: still 7
Samples: 46

Tomorrow we head to a vertical wall, hoping for some Brachycnemina. Flat weather, no waves for the next four days, so this our big chance to go far afield. Sharks and turtles commonly visible on the flat water surfaces. No sign of my lost camera though.

Pictures will hopefully get uploaded when the net is working well. JDR over and out.

Heron Island day 2

Hard to upload pictures here; the internet link is satellite-based.

Updates from day 2:
1. Two dives for me today, both at North Heron Reef, backreef area. First dive was on a sandy channel bottom, lots of nice animals I had never seen, and lots of one species of zoanthid.
2. Second dive in coral and sand, shallower. Much more diverse, and a huge loggerhead checked us out on the way in.
On the way in we saw a school of baitfish getting eaten by birds and a shark - which was bigger than anything I had seen thus far in Okinawa!

Zoanthid species total: 7 (Palythoa caesia, P. heliodiscus, P. sp. 2 sensu Burnett 1997, P. cf. mutuki, Zoanthus aff. coppingeri sensu Burnett 1997, Z. sp. 1, unknown zoanthid sensu Fujii 2009
Samples: 30

Sunset and beer is a nice daily tradition observed both days thus far.

More tomorrow.

Lab meeting on Nov. 11th, 2009

1. Tanks this week: TN
2. Please check the diving rules on message board.
3. MO made a manual on a seminar poster. Please refer to it, especially the third year students.
4. If you don't have a pair of slipper for Room 354, feel free to use MISE common slippers.
5. PC for the third year students has no softwares like Word, Excel, Power point... Can we order?
6. We got a new freezer for DNA yesterday.


Today's photo; Acrozoanthus in Green island, Taiwan

Heron Island #1

Hi all,

Quick update from Heron Island. We arrived yesterday, 100km off shore from Gladstone. The new marine station here is very nice, and CReefs looks after the researchers very very well.

Some quick bits of info:
1. Heron Island is covered with birds. One species, the shearwater, comes back only at night, and the babies cry all night. Makes sleep tough, and when you do sleep, the dreams are odd!
2. Reefs here are proper no-take zones, and full of life. Zoanthids too (see picture).
3. I am not going to lose weight here, steak for dinner last night, duck for lunch!
4. Marine biologists are great simply because they like beer.

I will try to post every day.

JDR@Heron

The Taiwan Trip!

We (MO, YI, and I) are in Ryudao in Taiwan. We dove the last three days, and got a lot of samples which includes some interesting un identified samples.

Sea of the Ryudao is very nice. Visibility is good, and diversity of corals (scleractinian corals, soft bodied corals, ...)looks high (My knowledge is too lacking to evaluate).

The happiest thing is the schedule of a day between this sampling trip.

Getting up　→ Eating breakfast → Diving (2dive) → Taking warm shower → Eating lunch → Fixing the samples → Talking or Having rest → Eating dinner → Talking or Having rest → Go to bed!!


I was happy....

Today, we went to the hot spring. It maked us refreshed.



We will leave Ryudao tommorow. Thank you very much for the people who related this trip!!


I took the first picture at the place where used as prison. Probably, the buildings will be the marine sciense station!!

Otherpicture was taken by Dr. Hirose at the hotspring.

Things to remember while JDR is in Aus!

All lab members: Get Skype, then we can talk for free while I am in Australia! Ask MO, CA, or YI for my Skype address.

Things to remember while I am in Australia:

1. JCRS presenters (MO, YM, TF, YI): If you have a poster, do not forget to a. check it with me, and b. make a reservation to print it. You can print it using my "公費（教育）” that the Biology Office manages.
2. All lab members: Please help with formalin clean-up. Today's participants know how, so ask them. As well, we may be able to pay some money for helping!
3. YI: you are the chair for the next seminar on December 2nd. Don't forget the posters and PDFs!
4. Jobs in December - we will do paperwork in November by email while I am in Australia. Please remind me if you get the chance, I may forget!
5. M.Hirose will start work from November in the lab; please help her if she has any questions.
6. Work for lab members while i am gone:
a. MO - lab management, etc. Also, the freezer if it arrives.
b. YM - sclerites, DNA (COI, ITS, MutS) complete data sets (pink, purple, green morphs). Begin thesis!
c. TF and YI: continue as is. TF and YM need to help with my class (Nov. 18, 25).
d. CA - continue as is.
e. MH - check DNA data; begin thesis!
f. YH - data collection, begin thesis!
g. YS - DNA analyses, begin thesis!
h. HS - sampling! If you want, begin DNA (ask someone to help you).
i. MK - DNA extraction, examining Symbiodinium DNA.
j. OT - continue snail and host sampling.
k. TN - learn sampling and field ID.
l. MM - DNA results? Also, begin cnidome analyses if you want (ask TF or YI to help).

Good luck!

Swimming off to the distance at Manza.

Lab meeting Nov. 4th

Lots of things today!

Present: YM, OT, TN, YH, MM, JDR
Absent: MO, TF, YI (Taiwan), CA (OIST), YS (fight!), MH (practical course), HS (class), MK (...)

1. JDR's specialty class will be taught by Kurihara-sensei on the 18th, Kimura-sensei on the 25th. YM and TF will arrange to help show them the room and help set up and take down. Yoroshiku!
2. Tanks this week: OT
3. Part-time jobs: a. Paperwork for MO, YM, YI, TF on their desks. Due Nov. 10th @ Biology Office.
b. December jobs: will do paperwork from Aus (JDR there Nov. 8th- Dec. 1st).
4. Health Check: Submit paperwork by today; free health check for those of us who dive lots.
5. Seminar: Don't forget the next one is Dec. 2nd - YI (chair), MM and MK (presenters).
6. Formalin help: today after seminar, in front of Fukugoto! Bring gloves.
7. While JDR is in Aus: a. continue experiments as much as possible
b. A new freezer (may??) come; MO will be in charge if it arrives while JDR is gone.
8. 3rd years PC: coming soon (Windows machine)
9. Camera: We have a new Canon G11 and housing - feel free to use, but please make sure you put it in freshwater soon after, and wash the weights carefully!
10. Research discussions before JDR goes: YM and TN: today, OT and YH: Friday, MK: tomorrow, HS and MM: will let me know after.

Wow...lots.

Today's pic: Tree frog helps with sampling, Costa Rica.

wow

No idea how this works, but we are averaging almost 20000 hits/day.

Maybe there are a lot of zoanthid maniacs out there...

However, I think the hit counter I have installed is somehow wrong. Anyone know anything?

Lab meeting on Oct. 28th, 2009

1. Tanks this week: HS
2. Homepage- Please make!
3. MH will be postdoc of MISE from November.
4. Seminar I- Please choose & pick papers soon!
5. MO, TF, YI is going to Taiwan from Oct. 31st.
6. JR is going to Australia from Nov. 10th.

Tip

Don't put salt in your coffee.

Lab meeting on Oct. 21st, 2009

1. Tanks this week: MK
2. Lab meeting - every Wednesday PM2:40~
3. MISE seminar - every Wednesday after lab meeting~
4. Writing class - every Wednesday PM5:00~
5. Explanation about usage of the sequencer on 5th floor - on 22nd PM2:30~
6. Diving at Manza on 23rd (Friday) - JDR, MK, TF, HS, YM
7. When you use MISE diving equipments, please inform lab members by using the blackboad.
Especially about camera, please ask JDR!

Update coming home from Costa Rica

Hi! JDR here with a small update:

1. Costa Rica was great - Prof. Jorge Cortes was a great host. Hopefully we can do more work in the future, and perhaps even set up some kind of agreement.
2. US bases in Okinawa need to be re-examined!! They provide economic help to Okinawa, but in some aspects they are not welcome - noise and pollution. Also, admittedly admission policies and privacy of personal information are not very good eother - just ask CA. Here is hoping the new government does NOT approve Henoko and moves Futenma out of Okinawa.
3. On the other hand, the new Japan govt. has evidently cancelled the JSPS Wakate S program for the next year (forever??). Another boo!

Ahhh, if only science and research was not influenced by politics...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/26/climate-change-obama-administration

http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/pipermail/coral-list/2009-March/038629.html

See you soon!

JDR

See you soon!

FS finished his JSPS program and left Okinawa on Oct. 7th. (but he will come to Okinawa for Kume-jima project in November.)

To FS

Arigatou for 2 years!
We are the team even if we work at different places!

Good luck in Florida ; )

From MISE in Okinawa


Photo- FS's first camp in Okinawa

Lab meeting on Oct. 14th, 2009

1. Tanks this week: Marie
2. FS's desk - for now it is for third years.
3. Third years' seminar & master's seminar will be combined. - every Wednesday at 16:20~
4. Please pay money for MISE T-shirt to TF.
5. We did lab (352) clean-up!

update from Costa Rica

A brief update on things here in Costa Rica.

1. Staying at my host's place, a prof here called Jorge Cortes. He has a nice house with a swimming pool and sauna - needless to say I am relaxing when not working. No internet at his place, so only when I am in the lab here at CIMAR.
2. Went to the Caribbean coast from the 8th to 11th, stayed at a place called Cahuita - check GoogleEarth. Very nice place, great food (great food everywhere here!), but no diving as there were waves. So did some snorkeling, very bad visibility, but got 16 specimens. Not bad considering the conditions.
3. Went to the Volcan Poas today, hiked around at 2700 m. Cool and cloudy, it is a cloud forest. Was very nice for a change.
4. Talk tomorrow at the Universidad de Costa Rica, even announced in the paper! I hope many people come.
5. There are animals everywhere here, I have seen: monkeys, raccoons, sloths, iguanas, frogs, butterflies, and of course zoanthids.

Anyway, some work now, then souvenir shopping. Talk tomorrow, and then museum work Wednesday, and leave Thursday. Hope everyone is genki.

JDR

Welcome party at Oku

We had a welcome pary for third years at Oku (northern part of Okinawa) on Sept. 26th~28th.
Three third years (TM, HS, and TN) attended.

We enjoyed diving, eating, beautiful stars, card game, talking, etc....

On the first night, we tried to dive in Oku. However, it was difficult to enjoy diving because of the strong current. On the other hand, west coast was quite good condition and we could enjoy stress-free diving on the next day.

I hope everyone had a good time.
Welcome to MISE!


Today's pic; weird sea urchin ' Colobocentrotus mertensii ' from Zatsun.

Lab meeting on Oct. 5th, 2009

1. tanks & cleaning: YI
2. seminar for graduate students - probably with Suda lab
3. seminar for undergraduate students - every Wednesday (for now)
4. Fred's desk - Does anyone want to use?
5. mid-term presentation for master 1st students will be held around Oct. 26th~28th.

Sobetsukai

There will be a "soubetsukai" for FS, who is heading to Florida from early next month. Please join!

Location: Ginjiro Izakaya, by the south gate
TIme and Date: from 8 pm, October 4th (Sunday)

Please come to wish FS luck!

JDR

Notice!

お知らせ
科目：海洋349　サンゴ礁多様性保全学
（理327号室）水　1限目

担当教員（ライマー）の海外出張のため、サンゴ礁多様性保全学の最初の授業は10月21日(水)になります。10月14日（水）に授業が無くて、宜しくお願いします。10月21日に、 登録調整とコースの説明を行います。

ライマー（担当教員）

Sorry for the Japanese only post!

Fall semester is coming!

Here is the link to the fall semester undergrad course JDR will be teaching...

http://ryukyucoral2009.blogspot.com/

cheers!

J.

Lab meeting Sept. 16th, 2009

①Tanks this week: YS　→　next week: YM

②Lab trip to Oku: Sept. 26~28th

③Visitor from Smithsonian museum will come to Sesoko marine station for sampling of peppermint shrimp: at the end of September.

④Please organize your DNA samples in lab freezer. We need more space...

⑤There are new machines; desiccator, water filtration system

We don't have a meeting next Wednesday.
Have a good silver week!

Today's pics: Kamo aquarium in Yamagata

Lab meeting Sept. 9, 2009 and updates

Summer!

Everyone is out in the field, or so it seems. Still, we need to update the blog. Here is the latest info:
1. Taiwan expedition and symposium: JDR and MO participated along with Hirose-sensei in sampling in both southern and northern Japan. We all also gave presentations at the special symposium (see posting earlier). All in all a great trip; we need to visit there more often! Big thanks to Shanky, Chen-sensei, and Nozawa-sensei for all their help!

Stay tuned for updates on this topic.

2. YK09-12 cruise at the Japan Trench: FS, CA, and TF finished the cruise with many samples despite the bad weather. In particular, many octocorals were collected.
3. 5th NCB: Being held in northern Japan now. TF and YI are participating, as well as sampling in the Japan Sea! Brrr.... Next NCB will be here in Okinawa.
4. JDR is now an associate editor of WoRMS - more info later.

Lab meeting today:
1. Tanks this week: YS
2. DNA classes next week: MO, MH, YS, MM participating!
3. YI wants a cheap new automatic car. Anyone with info please contact her.
4. Diving Friday at Sunabe: JDR and MH.

Have a great week!

Today's pic: Acrozoanthus in Kenting.

Omiyage and Taiwan

Ikuko Yuyama has brought some omiyage from her trip to a conference in the USA. The omiyage (pictured above) are in the refrigerator - please help yourself!

MO and JDR are off to Taiwan today. FS, CA, and TF are at the Japan Trench, and YI will go to the 5th NCB conference soon. Also, some 3rd years (HS, MM, TN) have been traveling in Japan too - busy summer holidays!

YK09-12 update 2

Update from FS, aboard the YK09-12 cruise at the Japan Trench:

We are still in Mutsu Wan, the sky became blue and after a windy night the weather is now nice. However, the typhoon is still not far and we are now hoping to dive already tomorrow, but it looks difficult as we have a very long ride (more then 12 hours) to go to the site, and the sea outside of the bay is certainly still quite Rock n'Roll.
So in the meantime we are relaxing, writing papers, aligning sequences, and praying for good conditions.

Japan Trench cruise update

Update from FS, aboard JAMSTEC YK09-12 at the Japan Trench:

We went to the first diving site, but the typhoon coming on our way, it was decided not to dive and rather to head to Mutsu Wan to get shelter from the waves. So without any sample to analyse we are reduced to bird and whale watching, especially yesterday as it was too wavy to work on the computer. Here is a picture of one of the two sperm whales I was lucky to see from the bridge.
Tonight I think we should have a drinking party for the sea gods so the second leg of the mission is successful.

Hope the weather gets better!

In the news

A picture taken by TF of an anglerfish is in the news (Okinawan paper).

Ignored fauna workshop

As part of JDR's JSPS grant and in collaboration with Academia Sinica, there will be an "ignored fauna workshop" in Taiwan next month.

Check here for the link:

http://coral.biodiv.tw/2009a/Default.aspx

Thanks to everyone at Academia Sinica, and especially Shanky for all their hard work! MO and JDR will attend September 3rd-8th.

http://www.shonai.ne.jp/kamo/

This is the link for the 5th NCB, which YI and TF will attend next month!

Lab meeting on Aug. 19th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: CA (next week - MY)

2. Progress reports: YI & TF

3. Tank No.3 sometimes leak because of the ungle of protein skimmer. So check it every time
when you touch the skimmer.

4. Schedule (August ~ September)
FS : Aug. 25th ~ Sep. 8th-JAMSTEC cruise, Ishigaki
TF : Aug. 26th ~ Sep. 14th - JAMSTEC cruise, Yamagata
CA: Aug. 26th ~ Sep. 8th - JAMSTEC cruise, Osaka, Tokyo, etc..
YI : Sep. 4th~ 15th - Shizuoka, Yamagata
MO:

Lab meeting on Aug. 12th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: FS
2. Progress reports: YM
3. We have new diving rules. Check the listed paper on the message board in the student room.
4. Please make your own pages of MISE homepage - Send JDR text files & pics.
5. For scholarship information, check the website; kazato.org.
6. JDR is gone from Aug. 16th until Aug. 30th.


photo: payao fishing

lab polo-shirt

We are planning to make Lab polo-shirt. This is the first plan of the design.
If many people buy this, price will be cheaper.

This design is not complete yet (especially, picture of the crinoid on the "S") .

Lab meeting on Aug. 5th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: MO
2. Progress reports: TF & YI
3. Let's do a big cleaning of the lab in October.
4. Always backup all your data!
5. Typhoon is coming! Put all things inside.
6. There is a 'Rising Star beach party' on Aug. 10th. If you want to come, tell JDR.
7. Please upload your own pages of the MISE Homepage.
8. MO or YI will manage information from university while JDR is gone.

Mid-term presentations

The 4th years finished their presentations today! It was a loooong day, but all three did a very good job.

Otsukare-sama deshita!

Lab meeting on July 29th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: YH
2. Progress reports: CA, YM
3. There is a 4th years' mid term presentation on Aug. 1st. Please come to watch!
4. JDR wants to go to an island during summer vacation; Aug. 4~6th or Aug. 11~12. If you want to join, let him know!
4. There are a lot of information about scholarships.
5. Influenza info - Check the e-mail from JDR.

Lab meeting on July 22nd, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: MH

2. Progress reports: YI, TF

3. If you rent tanks from Aokawa, get paperwork when giving tanks back there.

4. There is a mid term presentation of 4th years on Aug. 1st.

5. Remember to replenish common good. (ex. tips)

Photo: Baby sea turtles in Ocean Expo Park.

New paper (finally) out - you can download it from our homepage!

James Davis Reimer, Cleveland Hickman. 2009. Preliminary survey of zooxanthellate zoanthids (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia) of the Galápagos and associated symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.). Galápagos Research 66: 14-19.

sun eclipse

Thanks to Takuma and his glasses the lab and friends could watch the eclipse...

And we were not alone... (hard working scientists in Ryudai)

Lab meeting on July 15th, 2009

Present: MO, YM, TF, MH, FS, CA, YI Absent: YS, YH

1. Tanks keeper: YS

2. Progress reports: CA, YM

3. A inspector will come to check our lab on July 21st. So, please don't put your samples fixed with ethanol or formaline in the students room.

4. There is a 4th years' mid-term presentation on August 1st. Please give your help to 4th years.

5. Don't leave diving equipments on the balcony or they will get damage by UV.

6. Don't leave shoes in hall.

7. Lab coats are needed when you do experiment in room 533.


Today's photo: pygmy seahorse in Zanpa (taken by TF)

New paper

A MISE paper on Palythoa was accepted today by Zoological Studies:

Eriko Shiroma, James Davis Reimer. Investigations into the reproductive patterns, ecology and morphology in the zoanthid genus Palythoa (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) in Okinawa, Japan. Zoological Studies (accepted).

Congrats to ES!

check out: http://zoolstud.sinica.edu.tw/ under "forthcoming papers"

Lab meeting on July 8th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: CA

2. Progress Report: YI & TF

3. Make sure the procedure before you do experiments!

4. Please check 'Aquarium room usage' made by MO.

5.CA & FS won a prize at the CBE conference for their photo of an octocoral (today's photo) from the deep sea. Congratulations!

6. Karen showed her illustrations of marine organisms including deep-sea creatures in our seminar. It was very interesting. thank you, Karen!

7. One of the 4th year students will give a mid term presentation on July 15th in science building room 528. If you are free, please come and listen!

Today's photo; an octocoral from deep sea

Lab meeting on July 1st, 2009

Present: Sang-Yin, MO, YM, TF, MH, YH, JDR Absent: FS, CA, YS, YI
1. Tanks & Cleaning:TF
2. Be careful about contamination of pipetman!
3. Diving: Manza-on Tuesday, Odo-on Friday
4. Progress report: YM

Lab meeting on June 24th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: YI

2. Progress report: YI

3. FS, CA, JDR will attend the CBE conference at Busena, Okinawa, Japan Next week.

4. Mr. Ono who was one of the JDR's coworkers will visit Okinawa on June 28 or 29th.

5. Ms. Sung Ying who is a member of Chen's lab will come to Okinawa on June 29th and atay in our lab for 2 weeks.

6. New information about grant funding. ・・・・titech-tlo.or.jp

Photo: Cape Manza

Lab meeting on June 17th, 2009

It was a very short meeting.
1. Tanks keeper & cleaning: YM

2. A inspector will come to check our lab on June 22th. So, please don't put your samples fixed with EtOH or formaline in the students room.

3. No boat fishing in this weekend. Fred will organize night-fishing in July.

Today's pic; dead sand dollar taken in Oura, Okinawa, Japan

Lab meeting on June 10th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: FS

2. Progress reports: CA & YM

3. CBE conference will take place on June 29~July 4th.

4. Alcohol/Formalin check - on July 22nd.

5. JDR & MO will be absent from University during the next week or two.

6. If anyone is interested in scholarships, check the Inamori Scholarship on the web.

More recently, some coral species in Okinawa have spawned. I hope some of us (especially me) can take a picture or movie of coral spawning!

by YI

Lab meeting on June 3rd

1. Tanks keeper & Cleaning: YH

2. Progress report: TF/YI

3. There will be a conference/symposium.
Holobiont symposium in Taiwan 　→　June 22th~23
Japan Zoological Science Conference in Shizuoka 　→　Sep. 17~19th.

4. JR will go to Taiwan for sampling on Sep. 6~12th.

5. JR is planning a lab short trip at Oku on Sep. 26~27th.

6. JR might go sampling to Guam in mid of September....?

7. Be careful not to make things fall off from the balcony of lab room. After you use blue backets, please put weights inside.

Lab meeting on May 27th, 2009

1. Tanks Keeper & Room cleaning: MH

2. Progress Report: CA, YM

3. JR is planning a two-day one-night trip in Oku/Hedo this weekend.

4. University is ordering us not to go to the place where there is Influenza. ex.. Fukuoka, Osaka
Otherwise you will be confined to your house for ten days after your trip.

5. We have our home page now. But It's quite new and still under construction. If you are interested, please check it out! http://web.me.com/miseryukyu/


By yuka

pic: Upside-down jellyfish in Ishigaki, Okinawa

Omiyage

Kato-san from Suda-sensei's lab gave our lab some omiyage (souvenirs) to say thanks for some English editing JDR did on a manuscript of hers. So, if you look in the student room fridge, there is a bottle of tankan juice from Nago!

Thanks!

Homepage up!

Our homepage is up and running:

http://web.me.com/miseryukyu/

Check it out. We will slowly add pages for each member.

cheers,

JDR

Lab meeting on May 20th, 2009

1. Tanks keeper this week: YI

2. Progress reports: YI & TF

3. Trip to Guam has been cancelled :< class="midashi">for alternate plan...

4. Please fill in the questionnaire of library, or biological journals which we need will be cut off.

5. We can buy things at 100-yen shops by lab budget.

6. Don't forget to lock doors!

A happy rainy season!

by YI

Until proven otherwise...

HIS Chatan sucks very bad. Refusing to refund the majority of our money despite the university ordering us to not go. Shame on companies like this for attempting to make money off of people's problems. They have lost my respect (which is still hopefully a big deal in Japan).

So, note to all you travelers out there. Do not patronize HIS if there is any chance you will be in an "unorthodox" situation. They are so tight with money they could make diamonds with coals.

Booo....

Guam cancelled

In a rather drastic measure, Ryudai is prohibiting all overseas to travel to all foreign countries as a result of the H1N1 in Kobe and Osaka. I guess better safe than sorry, but this seems a bit overdone. I imagine in a week or two things will be back to normal, but for now all I will say is: boo hoo.

Also, cheers to ANA for being understanding and refunding our money. Boos mixed with hmmm to HIS Chatan for refusing to refund our money until 30 minutes into a heated discussion.

Report from Ogasawara

Hello everyone,

JDR here, finally back in high-speed internet land. Just a quick report on the Ogasawara trip that FS and I went on with Yanagi-san.

Ogasawara is an amazing place; only 3000 people and many uninhabited islands. Even the inhabited islands are relatively pristine. Ogasawara is aiming to become a World Natural Heritage site, and thus the government of Tokyo is spending much money to eradicate introduced species and protect endemic species. Ogasawara has a very high amount of endemic species, and the ecosystem has many open niches, resulting in a unique ecosystem that is easily threatened by introduced species and by development.

Anyways, we found some zoanthids (!) and anemones, so we return to Okinawa very happy. A big thanks to Yanagi-san and Sasaki-san for doing all the work to make this trip possible.

cheers! JDR

Short report ''Ishigaki trip''

We have come back from Ishigaki Island (Okinawa, Japan) .

However we have worried about the weather at first, it was nice weather.
We could make 3 dives on each 3 day!

It was a little cold under the water, but we had fun. There were a lot of hard & soft corals. Zoanthids were not plenty, but all of us found own samples.
Especially YI and CA collected many samples!

We also enjoyed fishing and flesh 'Sashimi (sliced raw fish-from Captain)' on the boat.

Yarabu-san & Captain, thank you very much for your support!
See you next GW!

Lab meeting April 22th, 2009

1. Tanks & Cleaning: FS -until 4/28th
(4/28th~5/6th: YM)

2. Progress reports: YM, CA

3. YH gave a presentation of his research plan.

4. There is a orientation for Sesoko Marine Biological Station on April 28th.

5. Make sure your classes are surely registered!


Field trip plan
・Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan: 4/28th~5/3rd...members(JR, FS, MO, CA, YI)

・Ogasawara Island, Tokyo, Japan: 5/7th~14th.........JR, FS

・Guam: 5/23rd~6/4th........JR, FS, CA, MO, YI


Have a good Golden Week (almost 1 week holiday for Japanese)!
by yuka

Picture: Melithaea sp. from Kume Island, Okinawa, Japan- Photo by FS

Lab information

1. If you use the 5th floor lab space, please use our desk and do not use other lab desks.

2. New arrivals:
a. Large (100-1250μl) tips
b. Dry cabinet for digital cameras
c. MacPro computer with MS-Office (English version)


Feel free to use them!

Post-docs

MISE is looking for post-doc applicants from North America, Oceania, and Europe to apply for two-year fellowships sponsored by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Priority will be given to research projects investigating the ecology, taxonomy and/or phylogeny of marine invertebrates. MISE offers a great location in subtropical Okinawa with many field opportunities, and a clean and new lab. If you are interested or have questions, e-mail jreimer at sci.u-ryukyu.ac.jp

Lab meeting April 15th, 2009

Absent: YS, YH, MH, MO

1. Tanks keeper: Marie

2. 'Writing class' will start from this week! Time: after master & doctor seminar ~ 17: 50

3. Research update reports: YI & TF Next week: CA & YM

4. We have wireless network but we can't use it now. We have to finish paperwork...

5. MO will explain how to use Microscope next week.

Picture: Unknown zoanthid from Mizugama, Okinawa, Japan Photo by JR

By Yuka

New MISE papers!

1. Sinniger, F., Häussermann, V., 2009. Zoanthids (Cnidaria: Hexacorallia: Zoantharia) from shallow waters of the southern Chilean fjord region, with descriptions of a new genus and two new species. Organisms Diversity and Evolution, 9: 23-36

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/14396092


2. Reimer, J. D., Sinniger, F., Nonaka, M., Uchida, S., 2009. Non-invasive internal morphological examination of epizoic zoanthids utilizing CT scanners. Coral Reefs

http://www.springerlink.com/content/k2644t2723016h00/

Lab meeting April 7th, 2009

Present: all

1. Tanks & cleaning: YH

2. There are 4th years' presentations on their research plan on April 20th (probably from 16:00).
Please come and give them your comments and advice!

3. Graduate course seminar will start from April 16th!

4. We decided who is in charge of each work.

JDR: Principal Investigator
FS: P.D.
MO: Lab boss
CA: Molecular, Lab fee, Remineder of tank keeper
YM: CA's tutor, TA (Assistant of 4th years' seminar)
TF: Morphology, TA (Assistant of 4th years' seminar)
YI: Information (blog update, etc.), TA (Assistant of Biology experiment class)　
YH, YS, MH: Party organizer

Next week
・Research update reports: YI and TF
・YI will show some pictures of Thailand.

By yuka

Lab meeting: Feb.12~ March 13th

Lab meeting: Feb.12, 2009
Absent: YS, YH, MO

1. tanks keeper: YM
FS made a tank sheet. Please fill in the paper. (about salinity concentration and skimmers, etc..)

2.We have 1st-Aid Kit now. Please take it when you go to the beach.

3. Others (NCB meeting, final presentation: PhD & Master, etc..)

Lab meeting: Feb.19, 2009
Absent: FS, YM

1. tanks keeper: YM

2. Sampling in Guam: May 23rd~June 4th

3. Others (NCB, Symposium in Churaumi aquqrium, Poster presentation of 4th years, etc..)

Lab meeting: March 13th, 2009
Absent: MO, YH, MH, YI, YM, TF

1. tanks keeper: FT

2. March 27th- We will do a Big Clean-up of Lab rooms.

3. March 29th- hotel buffet (graduation party of 4th years and JDR's birthday party!)


By Yuka

A happy new school year!

Lab meeting on April 1st, 2009
Present: YS, MO, YM, TF, CA, FS, JDR, YI

1. Tanks keeper: YS (last week: YI)

2. Biology school office on 5th floor closes at 17:15. Be careful!

3. Health check: Male- on April 10th Female- on April 13th

4. For Master students: Please present a progress report about your reserch every two weeks.
（2 students per week)

5. Please read 'General Lab Organization and Procedures' especially master students.

6. Don't use 0.2 ml tubes whose roofs are round for molecular experiment. Those tubes are defective. Use flat top one.

7. Ishigaki- April 28th~May 3rd Guam- May 23rd~ June 4th
Taiwan -June 22nd~26th (22~23: presentation 24~26: sampling)

7. Others: writing class, seminor, research plan of 4th years & master student, etc..

Pic. graduation ceremony of 4th years. ES has graduated from MISE! Congratulations！

By Yuka

MO in the news!

MO's paper made the newspapers! Here are some links (in Japanese):

http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/news/2009-02-13-E_1-007-2_002.html?PSID=cdacfc55f81231c74efb2594878c0941
http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/storyid-140733-storytopic-1.html

Congratulations!

Lab meeting 2009.2.4

Present: MO, YM, ES, TF, MH, FS, JDR, YI
Absent: CA - trip for Japanese class, YS

Another quick meeting; it is test and report season.

1. Tanks this week: FS.
2. Beach: JDR and CA are going February 6th, Friday - Sesoko and Churaumi. Let JDR know if you are interested.
3. CA will have a party at her house with Colombian food on the 12th or 13th (note: this will be one week later so people can attend).
4. Big lab clean - fiscal year end, likely sometime in March. Stay tuned.
5. 4th years paper deadline is Feb. 13th (Friday no less) at 5 p.m.
6. Meeting next week will be at 4:30 pm on Thursday, as Wednesday is a holiday.

Have a good week!

Today's pic is of an unknown/undescribed Palythoa sp. - Gizabanta, southern Okinawa. Photo by TF.