Thursday, July 17, 2014

what I think, and hope, I saw at the Barking Crab....team HASHTAG

·      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
  Front border rounded


Kenneth L. Gosner and Roger Tory Peterson “A Field Guide to the Atlantic Seashore From the Bay of Fundy to Cape Hatteras”
Norman A. Melnkoth “National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Seashore Creatures”
http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/sea.htm
http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/invert/bluem.htm
http://www.rimeis.org/species/membranipora.html
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=533
http://www.fishaq.gov.nl.ca/research_development/fdp/rock_crab.pdf








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