Heard From: Todd Clardy, Ph.D Candidate
I knew from talking with friends and advisors that I would enjoy taking the Functional Morphology and Ecology of Marine Fishes course at Friday Harbor Labs (FHL). A five-week, project-oriented class that involves field collections, lectures, and original research is always a great way to learn a new topic. Even with high expectations for the class, however, I still was unprepared for how fantastic my experience would be at Friday Harbor.
My interactions with fellow students provided some of my greatest memories. Early on, the people in the class were strangers assembled for the class from all over the world. We quickly become close friends after spending hours in the classroom, in the field, at meals, sampling at night off the FHL dock, hanging out socially, studying, and working on projects. We all worked very hard in the class, but even with a few stressful moments, the camaraderie with my classmates made the overall experience a joy. 
The class itself introduced me to a suite of new investigative techniques that used functional morphology to address interesting ecological questions. Lectures covered a broad spectrum of topics, and guest lecturers frequently dropped in to offer their expertise. We each learned the most, however, from our individual projects. Each student devised their own research project taking information gathered from the lectures and using fish collected from field work. The student projects covered a variety of interesting topics. I picked up a wealth of knowledge by assisting each of the students with their experiments, discussing important issues for each project, and simply being around such a diverse array of work.
With the help of the instructors Drs. Summers and Ferry and the teaching assistants Joe and Octavio, I developed a project that allowed me to learn new equipment and analytical techniques. After thinking through several ideas, I settled on using high-speed video to compare the mechanics of terrestrial and aquatic locomotion in the rock prickleback (Xiphister mucosus), a member of the family Stichaeidae that is capable of locomotion in both habitats. Results showed that Xiphister uses highly exaggerated swimming mechanics while on land to move efficiently on terrestrial habitat. The results of the study turned out very well, so well that I presented this research at the annual meeting of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in San Juan, Puerto Rico in February 2011. I also submitted the work to the journal Northwestern Naturalist and am proud to say that the manuscript has been accepted and soon will be published.
The beauty of San Juan Island, the friends I made, the exciting research, and the success of that research were all unexpected and pleasant surprises. I came away from FHL with a wealth of scientific knowledge, a research project that will be published, and many great memories that will last a lifetime.
Todd Clardy
Ph.D. Candidate
Fisheries Science Department
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
College of William & Mary