Elizabeth Kroger

Hanging on this structure are fragments of Staghorn coral, an important reef-building coral. @ERICTobagoWI propagates and gives these corals ideal conditions to later plant on the reef. Here I am removing sponges and algae so that they don’t compete with or cover the corals.

@maggiesswanson @AlexisMychajliw @ERICTobagoWI The best day!

#SelfieSaturday from the open waters of Man O’War bay after an epic day of diving to maintain @ERICTobagoWI coral nurseries 🪸🤿

Discussing threats to corals with students in Tobago. The students were curious to learn about coral bleaching due to climate change, the process by which corals lose a mutualistic algae from their tissues that provides them both with their color and sugars via photosynthesis.

Happy #WorldSnakeDay! We were lucky to see a boa constrictor eating an opossum the other night! Boas are able to detect the body heat of their prey and then quickly constrict them so they pass out. They have incredibly slow metabolisms so adult boas only eat every 4-6 weeks.

Pilot run deploying remote underwater videos (RUVs) to study fish biodiversity for my thesis! Yay!

Check out this Rufous-tailed Jacamar, photographed through my binoculars! These glittering green birds are in the family Galbulidae, and though they might look similar to hummingbirds, they are actually most closely related to puffbirds, and are insectivores.

Descubre a Elysia crispata, la babosa marina lechuga 🥬 que es medio animal-medio planta y puede sobrevivir más de un mes sin alimento. Guarda y usa los cloroplastos de las algas, de las que se alimenta, para capturar la energía luminosa del sol a través de la fotosíntesis.

Awesome night helping Rakesh Bhukal and @UWI_StAugustine students collect scorpions for a breeding project to examine under-studied scorpion reproduction. We were lucky to spot a couple endemic species! Thanks for having us along!

The other night we had the opportunity to join North East Sea Turtles (NEST) to look for laying turtles! I had no idea turtle fins were so dexterous! The red light ensures that we don’t disorient her as turtles judge the direction of the ocean by the brightness of the waves.

Hi, let me introduce you to roughsharks, of the family Oxynotidae, which are probably some of the cutest #sharks out there. They remind me of wontons. Roughsharks are my second fave sharks, specifically the Caribbean roughshark (Oxynotus caribbaeus).

@maggiesswanson Haha you cut up the leaves!!

@KrogerElizabeth Very generous use of the word “we”

One of my favorite parts of living abroad is learning new things (and especially trying new food)! Tonight we cooked callaloo which included dasheen (taro) leaves and okra, paired with some homemade tortillas :)

Small-scale fisheries aim to establish specific coastal territorial rights with law enforcement around the different territories to ensure recognition of land tenure, fishing zones and adjacent lands. #ASeatAtTheTable

All smiles cutting PVC to put together new coral nursery trees 😄⁦🪸🐠@KrogerElizabeth⁩ ⁦@ERICTobagoWI⁩

Sharing @ERICTobagoWI’s coral restoration work with high schoolers in Speyside. I was excited to see how enthusiastic these students were about reefs! @Middlebury

We spotted this nurse shark, accompanied by a sharksucker, while reviewing BRUV footage! Unlike other sharks that must constantly swim to pass water through their gills and breathe, these sharks use buccal pumping to suck water into their mouth and can rest on the seafloor.

Con motivo del #DíaDeLaGenteDelMar 👨👩🌊 2⃣2⃣ entidades de #Pleamar han presentado esta semana resultados sobre áreas protegidas. ¿Cómo avanzamos hacia una pesca y acuicultura más sostenibles en la #RedNatura2000? ¿Y en protección de especies? Te lo contamos en este hilo 🧵👇

Treat nature as if your life depends on it. Recognize it does, then do something about it.

Spotted our first shark 🦈 (a Reef Shark) in the baited remote underwater video (BRUV) footage we've been reviewing the past couple days! @ERICTobagoWI @Middlebury