Students and educators from Jupiter Community High School’s Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy (JERFSA) joined scientists from Florida International University (FIU) for an exciting Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks expedition onboard R/V ANGARI.
EXPEDITION DETAILS
September 26, 2025
Palm Beach County, FL
Michelle Debbaudt
Mia Gabb
William Sample
Davon Strickland
Alondra Vidales
All sharks were fished for, caught, studied and released for research purposes under Florida permits held by Florida International University scientists.
The R/V ANGARI crew welcomed aboard students and educators from Jupiter Community High School’s Environmental Research and Field Studies Academy (JERFSA) and scientists from Florida International University’s College of Arts, Sciences and Education (FIU) to participate in a Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks expedition. Students were excited to apply their background knowledge of marine science topics to an exciting day of shark research with the FIU science team! Participants were taught how to build and deploy baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVS), as well as how to utilize the footage captured to assess the population of different marine species in an area. Additionally, the students learned through hands-on experience how to use drumlines, a specialized type of fishing gear used for shark research.
Students began the day by breaking into teams to assemble and deploy a BRUVS in a corner of the Lake Worth Lagoon. While the BRUVS sat on the seafloor, students worked with FIU scientists to apply their marine species identification skills to BRUVS footage previously captured on R/V ANGARI expeditions and clips submitted to the Global Fin Print project. Once students hauled the BRUVS back onboard, the team headed offshore to begin their day of shark research!
Once offshore, teams of students assembled drumlines, each consisting of a concrete weight, monofilament line, circle hook, bait and buoys. The students brought excitement and teamwork to each drumline deployment! Throughout the day, the team caught two nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) and a lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris)! After the FIU science team safely secured each shark to the stern of R/V ANGARI, students were invited down to assist with the workup. Students helped take different body measurements, tissue samples and tag each shark. Before safely releasing one of the nurse sharks, students and teachers examined the shark’s dermal denticles that give the animal its rough skin! An important final step of each workup is identifying the sex of the shark by noting whether or not claspers, a modified fin appendage, are present on the underside of the shark. Students were able to assist the science team with this step in the workup and found that both nurse sharks were female, and the lemon shark was a male!
After an exciting day offshore of Palm Beach County, the team headed back into the Lake Worth Lagoon to review their BRUVS footage and debrief on a busy day of fieldwork. Students asked the science team great questions about the impacts of the research being conducted onboard R/V ANGARI and other shark research happening through FIU in South Florida. It was another amazing Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks expedition full of experiential learning opportunities!
CHIEF SCIENTIST
Will Sample is a Ph.D. candidate in the Marine Community and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Florida International University. His current research uses both long-term historical datasets and newer methods, such as high-resolution accelerometry, to study the movement and behavioral ecology of juvenile bull sharks. He specifically focuses on the way these sharks may be transporting nutrients across habitat boundaries, how they may be optimizing their movements to save energy and what the long-term implications of different behaviors they specialize in may be. Will’s research in the Florida Everglades studying the ways sharks move through this crucial ecosystem is important for conservation and informing habitat restoration and management efforts. Will earned a B.S. in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Florida Atlantic University in 2018 and has lived all throughout Florida for most of his life, from Jacksonville to Jupiter to the Keys. He is passionate about community outreach and education, particularly regarding Florida’s natural habitats, and currently serves as lead scientist for ANGARI’s Palm Beach County based Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks program aboard R/V ANGARI.
