Wednesday 8th February, UMASS, final day !!!!

Early breakfast and time to do a final sort of the suitcase before the flight tonight (hope it's OK....they seem hot on chraging for abnything over 23kg).

Set off for UMASS at about 9am.  Ken, Whitney and Andrea had already been to the marine lab to collect the sperm from the males so I was there for the novel bit, the fertilisation.  Firts check of the promising females was 10.30am....nothing, then 11.30am.....nothing, then 12.30pm........finally, a female reluctantly gave up her eggs

Ken gently squeezing eggs from a female

Only two of the promising females gave eggs so it was a bit of a dissapointment for the crewe.  Andrea was actually monitoring the effect of PCB's (polychlorinated byphenols....a by product of the electrical manufacturing industry) and so was sub sampling the eggs and crossing them with males exposed to various levels of PCB.

So with a couple of batches fertilised it was time to sit back and wait.  Ken told me it usually takes about 1.5-2 hrs before they know whether the fertilisation has taken place.......by counting the number of cell divisions in the developing embryo.  I was determined to hang on even though I was weary of the flight departure time and the rush our traffic into Boston.

Finallt at about 2.30pm we found what we were looking for, 4 cell devisions in the embryo, a sure sign of fertilisation.  I was very pleased and relieved to see this.

Fertilised American eel egg showing the 4 cell divisions after 2 hrs (Courtesy of Oliveira and Hable 2012

Well, that was it!!!!!  A fond farewell to all at UMASS and I fixed my attention to the journey to the airport.  fortunately the good folks at budget had programmend their address all the way home into the Sat Nav.

The only hiccupp was the final approach to Boston Airport, going underneath the Charles Rivver tunnel to Logan airport...the Sat Nav lost site of the Sat and was sending me off into the city centre!!!!

After a short argument, with voices raised on both sides we agreed to disagree and I headed for the Logan Airport sign.  I breathed a sigh of releif when I spotted the budget sign but the Sat nav was still trying to (unsportingly I felt) throw me off one last time.

It wasn't long before my bags were all checked in and I was awaiting departure.  i had time to reflect on an amazing trip and i must admit to being unable to supress a wry smile at the extent of my adventures.

These thoughts were all the more welcome when I calculated that it was just a 6 hour flight and 3-4 hrs on the train and bus to get home.  I planned to pick up my girls from school at 4.30pm on Thursday, what a re-union that would be.