Think marine biologists all get to play with dolphins, sea turtles or go dive coral reefs?? Think again! :-) I am a graduate student at the University of West Florida in Pensacola. We perform some of the dirtiest jobs you could think of. Ever think about collecting in thigh-deep methane mud full of trash, mosquito larvae and who knows what else in the middle of summer when it's over 100*? We do. We wade through sludge, muck, insects and run our hands and feet through piles of dead fish just to collect data. We have dubbed one particular collection spot as the "Pit of Dispair." Interested??