Matthew Jenny, assistant professor of biological science at the University, and his partner, Ann Tarrant, from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, will begin research on the effects of the oil spill on the starlet sea anemone within the coming weeks, according to a UA news release.

Jenny said the research will take place along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico starting in Louisiana—where the oil spill was the worst—and make its way back to the Mobile Bay area.

Anemones belong to a taxonomic group of sea animals known as cnidarians, including deep-sea corals, sea anemones and jellyfish. Anemones were many of the species directly affected by the oil spill, and the research crew said they hope to demonstrate how invertebrates deal with cellular stress in situations such as an oil spill.

“Probably the most important thing for people to know is that the research process is slow,” Jenny said. “Scientific results have to be obtained in a methodical way to insure accuracy.”

Jenny said he plans to keep the anemones alive and bring them back to Tuscaloosa for further research.

“To catch them, you can just fill buckets with mud from the estuary and let them sit with a little water on top; the mud will settle out and the anemones will eventually stick out their tentacles to feed, and you can suck them up with a syringe or turkey baster,” he said. “Once we have collected them, we can keep them alive in clean seawater and feed them live food like brine shrimp.”

Jenny and Tarrant received a $110,000 grant from the National Science Foundation; the grant money is available to scientists for research during natural or unseen disasters.

“As a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, there was a large demand for research to track the spread of the oil and to understand the impact of the oil spill on the environment,” Jenny said.  “Both Tarrant and I have been working with marine invertebrates for many years.”

The research process is expected to take a few weeks.