The Fall 2015 CIMI new fish class. Back row L to R: Alex, Jordan, Katie O., DannyBoy, Teresa, and Katie MO. Front row L to R: Anneliese, Katrina, Jorie, and yours truly.

At CIMI, there is a tradition that the new folks hired at the beginning of each season are henceforth referred to as the “new fish” for the remainder of the season. Each group also gets a name… Some past ones are the Odd Fish, Sorority Fish, iFish, the list goes on! During our training, the topic of poop kept coming up – whether it was whale fecal plumes, marine snow, bird poop and the nitrogen cycle, or sperm whales exploding out ambergris from swallowing giant squid beaks, it just never stopped! Of course, it didn’t help that one of our trainers, Lauren, always says her signature phrase “Oh, poop on a stick” and helped to carry the theme. We rounded out our training by each doing a 10-minute teach on various labs that are a part of our fall program. We each managed to weave in at least one mention of poop while staying completely on topic while teaching, and were henceforth dubbed the “Poop Fish.” It’s truly an honor.

It has been fantastic getting to know all the poop fish! Jordan, Katrina, Teresa, Jorie, Anneliese, and myself all started at the beginning of the summer and the rest joined us mid-August. We’re a wonderful eclectic group of people with a whole spectrum of personalities and interests from all over the country, but we’re all here because we want to teach and we love the ocean!