Monday, July 25, 2011

Exploring The Dark Side Of The Barking Crab Docks

Our second day started approximately 8:00am on Saturday, July 23, 2011 behind the Marriot Wharf Hotel beginning with an observation of the marine life on and around the barge. I saw some branch type of seaweed which was attached to rocks, green moss and I also saw that the water level was at half-tide. We walked over to the Federal Court House side of the dock at the mouth of the 4-point channel and there I observed that the tide was at two-thirds level and there was no seaweed in this area . We ventured on on over the "Old North Ave Bridge" which is preserved as a Historical monument and Professor Berman gave a brief history of the bridge and the surrounding area. This is one of four bridges that still open for boat passage. This bridge opens outward not upward and we got a chance to see it happen during our rest and discussion period after our Barking Crab exploration.

A short walk from the bridge we arrived at our destination the "Barking Crab". There we explored the unknown waters under the docks behind the structure for several hours. We pulled out kinds of interesting creatures from under the dock. In total I saw about 16 different kinds of stuff, some wiggly, some millimeter size crustaceans, some crawling things and some other stuff that did move at all.

One very interesting thing that I observed was a mussel that had an onion looking bulb that was soft to the touch with nipple on top surrounded by some brown mossy stuff. What is it????
There were several types of plants that might be sea anemones and a yellow/white star shape matter. I also saw two types of orange stuff: one had a bulb shaped bottom with two tubes extending out from it and black dots on tops and the other was a patchy algae type substance with black tips. Are the the same or at least of the same "family"...maybe or maybe not?

The dock posts under the ramp were covered with barnacles and one post had a star fish attached to it about 3-4 feet below the water. There were blue mussels and green lettuce looking something.

This was a very interesting trip. The waters hold a lot of strange and weird looking little and I'm sure big creatures and plants. Some I hope never to see in person.

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