Saturday, July 23, 2011

Today 7/23

Today was a fun and interesting experience. We first started off by the long Warf hotel and made are way to the edge of the harbor. There were many things that I noticed when I was looking over the edge into the harbor. First thing I saw was that the rocks/wall was covered in green. It appeared to be algae and rockweed that was growing. By the rock weed being present showed that the water was clean. Also I noticed that the wall appeared to be wet. That means that it was low tide. The time this observation took place was around 9:00 am. I also noticed that there were little white specks all over the wall. That appeared to be barnacles growing on the rocks. From there we went to another part of the harbor. The second location we went to was what I believed to be the other side of the hotel. That location was like a dead end. The water could go no further because of the rock wall around it. Even though we did not go to far from the first location there were some things that were different about the second location. First off I didn’t see any rockweed growing, which could mean that the water was dirtier on that side or there was a lack of nutrients or a physical force like wave action that does not allow rockweed to grow there. There were some barnacles growing on the side but that was pretty much it. The third location we went to was over this old style bridge. We learned that MIT students designed the bridge. From there we went to the side of the barking crab. We broke up into groups and did some observations. My group first started off under the bridge where it was dark and the time was around 1030-1100 am. We found a number of interesting things on the side of the dock. First thing we did was grab a handful of all sorts of critters. We observed mussels, a type of tunicate, sea worms, baby shrimp, algae and a type of stick figure animal. From there we went to a second location on the dock but this time we were out in the open in the light. We pretty much saw the same things as the first location with an exception to sea lettuce and a type of seaweed that resemembeled a mop. We also saw a gold starfish that was about 7 feet deep. We were able to see 7 feet deep in the water because the water was clean and that could explain why there was seaweed growing. The professor caught two types of fish using artificial bait that symbolized its prey. One of the fish was a herring the second type I am unsure about. From there we went to a patio and discussed what we saw. Overall working in groups was fun. We got to really work as a team and observe different plants and animals. My favorite part of the day was when we went to the barking crab and pulled those clumps of what appeared to be living things off the side of the dock and tried to identify what they were. I had a great time today and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s class.

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