Dear Office of Study Abroad:

When I first decided to come to the Caribbean for my study abroad, I never would have guessed that I would be given the opportunity to witness the dissection of an eight-foot lemon shark firsthand. But just under a week ago, that is exactly what happened. One of the local fishermen accidentally caught the poor creature in one of his nets and graciously decided to donate the dead animal to us for educational purposes.

Seeing the shark laid out on our dock was quite a surreal experience. Normally when we get that close to a shark in the water it is accompanied by an overriding sense of terror. From the dermal denticles of its skin to the gigantic livers it has, I was blown away by how different these creatures are from anything I have seen before. Then, on top of all of that, the shark was pregnant! Once the ovaries were cut open there seemed to be an endless stream of half-developed, baby lemon sharks, and accompanying them, a runt of the litter that seemed to be at a completely different stage of development than all of the others. This we soon learned was unheard of in lemon shark biology. The tragedy of the loss of so many lives was certainly sobering, but the thrill of a possible scientific discovery has left me with a memory I will cherish from this semester.

– Scott Spillias