Larvicology class, and research continues

Alright so it's been a while and I've been busy!!!  This week I started the RSF Invertibrate embryology - larval biology class with Dr. Ronald Shimek.  Dr. Shimek is a great icon in my mind as he's not only done some very very serious research but he's also apt to speak to the hobbyist!  In my travels I have run across many researchers in academia who were less than apt to answer any questions I have and tend to exude a condesending attitude towards any contact I may have.

Not so with a few however, as MASM continues the breeding initiative I am noticing more and more icons like this appear.  Many of whom I have communicated with in the past after reading some paper here or there.  One of which is almost a hero of mine as his studies of the emerald crab Mythraculus sculptus has kicked me into super high gear.  I was more than excited to see Dr. Andrew Rhyne show up at the forums.  It took all I had to stay focused on my task at hand (studying the still unidentified Nassarius sp. snail that I am working with) and not blast him with a billion questions regarding my little crabby friends.  Soon enough though... he he

My study of the snail goes well and I have run through my first isolation check from egg deposit to hatch.  Naturally I cant check on the little guys post hatch as size does not permit, I am now in a holding / monitoring pattern until a visible juvenile pops up.  My fear is that survivalship was 0 and that day may not come.  Given that the egg capsule deposited only contained two surviving larvae it is a possiblity, however one that I am willing to accept as I will be performing numerous such runs quite possibly over the course of several years.

I simply WANT to do this, crazy huh!?  The first lecture from Dr. Shimek alone gave me some valuable information and I am having a complete blast with the course.  Thus far only a few of us have been active but it's day 3 so not a huge deal. 

Whats more fun is through this first run I noticed a number of difficulties that I wish to overcome.  I'm currently working on a device to allow me to overcome the first difficulty.  Viewing the egg capsule under a dissection scope and monitoring it's progress without damaging, stressing, or killing entirely the larvae inside is a task in itself.  I've decided to design and build a "flow through" chamber that will fit on the stage of my Konus dissection scope.

This design itself has proven a little tricky, so far I'm only a few days into the idea and have just finished pouring a block of poly resin which I will then shape and tool with a dremel and various hand tools to produce my first prototype.  when I come up with a functional design I will be sure to post a DIY for those of you who visit my site and have interest.

MASM as well has continued to keep me in high gear with it's breeding initiative, and they have really put forth a huge amount of effort into the thing.  I truly wish I could participate more but I have so many irons in the fire right now it's going to be impossible.  I have begun documenting my nassarius work (at least to the degree of their reports) at the site, and continue to re-work my documentation for RSF as I go.  RSF will be my outlet for the confirmed scientific data (as scientific as I can make it anyhow) and MASM will continue to provide a great testing ground.

All told I'm having a blast, my loving wife has been amazingly supportive and I remind you all that should you ever get the chance you should shower her with gifts and praise for being such a wonderful person!! She continues to put up with my science experiments looming all over the house and has chipped in a great deal in the care and efforts to keep the copepod labs running!  Not sure if she will ever read this but hands down... I love her more than anything and am happy to have such a supportive spouse!  A man simply couldnt get any luckier!