Thursday, July 17, 2014

What I thought I Saw! Charlene Choice

·      Sea Lettuce-

o   Vibrant dark green sea vegetable

o   Common in temperate and colder salt water

o   Ranges in size from 6-12 feet

·      Blue Mussel-

o   Found on rocky shores, most often in bays and estuaries

o   Anchor to hard surfaces

Feeds on “phytoplankton

o   

o   Important water quality indicators in Boston Harbor due to the fact that they are filter feeders

§  Filter particles out of water

§  Suspension feeders

o   MWRA (Massachusetts Water Resources Authority)

§  Tests mussels for PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons)

·      Tests show a decrease in harmful chemicals

·      Tunicates (Sea Squirt) (RED, WHITE, GREEN)

o   Colonial tunicate consisting of zooids

o   Also feeds on phytoplankton

o   Also feed on zooplankton, oyster and mussel larvae

o   Similar to mussel discharges filtered water

o   Unlike mussel, the discharge occurs into a common area used by zooids in cluster and filtered out of a pore

o   All zooids within a colony are the same color

o   Colonies can have up to 20 zooids

o   Broods larvae internally, fertilization of eggs occurs from males in nearby colonies

·      Lacy Crust Bryozoan

o   First identified on east coast in Isles of Shoals, Maine in 1987

o   Spread through ballast water and ocean currents

o   Zooids that are box like structures that sit next to each other

o   The entire colony looks “circular and white”

·      Atlantic Lobster

o   Live in water of less than 50 meters

o   Young lobsters do not migrate to open water

o   Usually olive green or dark brown

·      Atlantic Rock Crab

o   Trapped in lobster pots

o   Rock, sand or gravel bottom dwellers

o   Estuaries or shallow shores

o   Front border rounded

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