In November 2009, the three BivAToL PIs (Paula Mikkelsen, Rüdiger Bieler, Gonzalo Giribet) plus the three new postdocs (Sid Staubach, Ilya Temkin, Stephanie Clark) spent a week in Florida to collect additional bivalve target species. [NMNH co-PI Ellen Strong was also scheduled to participate, but regrettably had to cancel due to illness.] The first half of the trip was in Ft. Pierce, largely in the Indian River Lagoon on the eastern coast of Florida, working out of the Smithsonian Marine Station. There we continued the work started in April 2009 by Mikkelsen, Bieler, and Brian Gollands, collecting more specimens of four species (Rangia cuneata, Polymesoda caroliniana, Sphenia antillensis , Tagelus plebeius) and fully collecting three more (Crassostrea virginica from a seawall , and Phacoides pectinata , Parastarte triquetra). Two of the postdocs also had the opportunity to dissect fresh specimens for their assigned organ systems — stomachs for Temkin and gills for Staubach — which lent an informal name for this expedition: the “Gills and Guts Workshop.” Thanks to Drs. Mary Rice and Valerie Paul and the staff of the SMSFP for their hospitality and assistance. [See the description of the April 2009 trip for more about this locality.]

Following Ft. Pierce, the three PIs spent an additional few days in the subtropical Lower Florida Keys to scuba dive on the reef and sample the shallow waters of Florida Bay. Despite the nearby passage of Hurricane Ida a few days before (which caused 15-foot seas on the reef), the weather calmed down and turned beautiful for our trip. Our dive on the spur-and-groove reef at Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary off Big Pine Key was memorable, with 50-foot visibility and water temperature of 81 degrees F. Additional needed specimens of five species (Pteria colymbus, Ctenoides scabra, Petricola lapicida, Arcopsis adamsi, and Chama macerophylla) were obtained over the three days, and three additional target species were fully collected for the project (Ctenoides mitis, Lamychaena hians, Lithophaga antillarum). Our sampling in the Keys is supported by a research permit from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.