Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sunday

Sunday morning we started off at Starbucks talking about what we were going to do that day and also going over some facts about the previous class. Some of the things we talked about was how rockweed is an indicator that the water was clean. We talked about brackish and how that was where salt water and sweet water meet. We talked about how salmon only spawn in fresh water then go back to the ocean when they’re done. And we talked about the inner zones and sub zones. From there we got on the ferry and went to Georges Island. As soon as we got there we sat down and talked about how foreign animals are brought over to America by boats from other countries. We learned that a lot of the animals that we saw that day at the barking crab were not native to this country. An example would be tunicates. Other examples would be pythons and parrots. After we finished discussing examples of (hitchhikers) we explored the island. From there we took another ferry to Lovell’s island. When we got there we talked about what we were going to do and then we got to action. We went to the rackline and looked for plants and animals in the water and on shore. First thing I saw was a crab. There were many different types of crabs. There were hermit crabs, Asian shore crabs, and crabs that appeared to be the same species just different colors like greenish and yellowish. There was an orange one that appeared to be the Jonah crab. The second thing I saw was a checkered peri winkle. They were all over the place stuck on the rocks. The third thing I saw was a Blue mussel. The fourth was razor clams. The fifth was tunicates, 6th rockweed, and 7th seaweed. The 8th thing I saw was slimy green grass that looked like sea grass. The 9th was barnacles. There was also baby lobsters in the water that we were trying to catch. After finding all these neat things we went to lunch. After lunch we saw these snail shells that had holes in them on rocks. There was couple of theories on how they got there. One theory was that birds use a certain rock over and over agint to break open the shells and that’s how the snails got there. Another theory that made more sense was that there is a bigger type of snail that drills a hole in the smaller snail and eats the snail that way. From there we went walking looking for those type of snails. We found many snails on trees. They were different colors. These snails were land snails and not sea snails. I believe they were either Helix albolabris or Cepaea nemoralis. They were different colors, which I though meant different species but I remember professor Brenan saying they were one species. After that we talked little bit more and waited for the boat. Overall I had a good time and I learned what Lovell’s Island had to offer

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