Thursday, July 17, 2014

Catherine Zhang (Barnacle group)-- Assginment 3: naming the species


             After describing the species our group observed, we used a lot of resources which include online sources, two required guide books and other things, we finally got the names of these species. When I tried to put all species with the order from plant-like to animals, the blog messed up my paragraphs and pictures. Here are the described species and their names.


             I saw another animal on the top of the black shells. A lot of them almost cover the whole shell. The average size of them is half inch (there are bigger ones and smaller ones). It is white or light grey and it has a shape of a volcano, and from the top I can see two pieces of shells inside the “volcano”. After I opened the shells, it is squishy and yellowish.I think it is Thatched Barnacle


One plant is dark green, it has thick leaves and stems. On the tip of the leaves is plumped up with lighter color (kind of pods). This tips which are plumped up are also covered with tomentum. It can be one foot long or even more. I think it is Fucaceae.

                One plant is dark brown or dark grey coral-like thing. It covers the side of the dock. There are tiny white flower/star (about quarter inch big) shape thing all over the plant. It is soft and about 2 inches long.I think that is
Golden Star Tunicate.


One plant is dark or light green; it looks like a piece of board and flat lettuce, but it is thinner than lettuce that it is a little bit translucent. The one we found is as big as two of my hands.  When I touched it, it is slippy and a little bit sticky.I think that is Ulva Lactuca.



http://protistaproject.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/2/7/12279313/516921448_orig.jpg

One plant is light green and smooth. It has thin stems and almost no leaves. But it seems have tiny aerial roots which are 5mm long on the stems. It also has protuberances on the stems or on the tip of the plant.I think it is Knotted Wrack.
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            One plant is covering or attached flatly to the dock like some kind of red painting. It is like a piece of soft plastic since it is easy to break. It is very red like red velvet, and it has tiny holes all over it.I think that is Velvety Red Sponge.
Velvety Red Sponge - Ophlitaspongia pennata

            One plant is like a tiny white Christmas tree with no leaves on it (or it is like rime covering the plant) and waving in the water. It is fluffy in the water. The one I saw in the water is more than 15 inches. I think it is wine glass hydroid.                                           
            This plant has a huge root which is light orange color, its hundreds of branches or tentacles are black with white tips, and they are waving in the water. As we use hand to touch the tentacles’ edge (the white tip), the plants suddenly shrink immediately, and then they open slowly after a while. I think it is Frilled Anemone
            First animal I saw has two pieces of black shells. The animals attach to the side of the bock under the water. Most of them are open in the water as the inside color is pearl white with light orange body parts. As soon as they are out of the water, the shell shut tightly. It is long on the side and round on the two ends. The one I saw is around 0.8 inch. There are carved lines on the whole shell, they look like the growth rings on the trees that one line is after another tightly. I think that is Blue Mussel.
            One tiny animal I saw is shrimp-like animals. It looks like a tiny white or translucent shrimp with same size of head, body and tail (shrimp’s head is bigger than the body as the body is bigger than the tail). It doesn’t have carapace as shrimps so its head looks shortened. It seems have four long antennaes. It moves its tiny legs and swims in the water. I think it is Hyallela Azteca.
            One animal I saw is a stick-like animal. It is like the insect walking stick in the water. It is either white or translucent. It has two long antennaes and two big arms with six small legs at the end. It uses the six legs to attach to the Christmas tree-like thing and jumps around by curling its body in the water and using six legs and two arms. It is about half inch long. I think it is Smooth Skeleton Shrimp.
            One animal I saw is a huge size of shrimp with hard carapace and two huge claws. It also has two long antennaes. It has different colors on it such as black body, red claws, orange tail and green legs. It is about 30 inches long. I think it is Northern Lobster.
                                       
           One animal I saw is kind of crab with red or bright orange color. It has an oval-shape carapace covering its back with white spots on it. It has eight stick-like legs and two big claws. It is about 7 inches long. I think it is Jonah Crab.
           
                                                             
           Another animal I saw is also a kind of crab which looks like an ugly rough rock with eight long sticky legs. It is about 4 inches long and the legs are two times longer than the body. It is excrement yellow from my point of view (sorry about saying that color….).  I think it is Common Spider Crab.
                                     
                                          
           Another animal I saw is a star-like animal. It is dark red or dark orange color with white lines and dots sticking out from it. On the back it is yellow. At the front it is hard as the back is soft. It is about one inch long. I think it is Asteriid Sea Star.
          One animal I saw is clear jelly-like thing. It is round like an umbrella with tentacles covering its edge. In the middle of it, there are four circles which look like a four-leave clover. It is floating in the water. It can be as small as half inch or as big as 16 inches. I think it is Moon Jellyfish.
                                          
         One animal I saw is big white bird with grey wings, yellow beak and feet. It is paddling the water as it tries to catch the sea species near the ocean surface. It is about 10 inches long. I think it is Sea Gull.
                                     

Resources:
Required two guide books
 http://protistaproject.weebly.com/ulva.html
http://www8.nos.noaa.gov/onms/Park/Parks/SpeciesCard.aspx?refID=4&CreatureID=1577&pID=11









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