From Snails to Whales: Class #3

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Class #3

Today we observed both the urban coastline of Boston Harbor and got a brief glimpse of the organisms that live out of view under the harbor piers. Though we only saw the intertidal zone of Long Wharf from afar, I have a feeling that what we saw from land are related to the organisms that we found underneath the pier, and that they may be species related to each other in some way or another. Before I researched the actual identities of the different things I saw today, reading even the description of the Hitchhikers Guide made me think twice about everything I had seen. My judgment of everything I saw immediately shifted from wonder to skepticism, as I wondered if any of the creatures I had seen today were actually invasive and disturbing the existence of the indigenous creatures.

Starting with the plants we saw while standing at the Wharf, I noticed the two most obvious species to the naked eye. Both species were visible at low tide and because some lived submerged and some lived exposed to open air, they must both be able to survive a change in habitat. One species existed both in patches and large stretches, was green in color and resembled moss that you would find on a rock. In fact, some of this moss-like green substance, which I can assume is a plant because of its appearance, lived on rocks submerged in the water. I am guessing that the green plant found both in the water and on the wall are the same species because high tide would submerge the plants on the wall like the ones already in the water, but I cannot know for sure. After researching “mossy seaweed” online, the closest match I could find in appearance and habitat description is the seaweed Cladophora and is found in intertidal zones just like the one we saw. A second plant species in this same area was brownish, resembled long thin leaves, and lived along with the green plants both in the water and on the wall. Again, I am only guessing that the species in the water and above the water are the same because of the change in tide levels, but I cannot be sure. After researching “brown seaweed Massachusetts” online, the seaweed I found that most accurately matches what I saw in the water and on the wall is the Fucus gardneri, which is described as thriving both on land and in protected areas.

Moving on to the pier at the Barking Crab, I found myself looking at many green, lettuce-like leaves attached to the floats underneath the pier. They stretched the length of the pier, were close to the surface and were therefore exposed to a lot of sunlight, and dried up like a dead leaf would once on the pier for awhile. After researching lettuce-like seaweed, I found that in fact there is a seaweed called “Sea Lettuce” or Ulva lactuca. The appearance is very similar to that which I saw in the water, is observed in the Northeast, and can apparently even be used in salads.

This piece had a jelly-like brown substance on it, which I will talk about later.

Moving on to the animals I saw today, the most interesting one to me was an orange, stick-like creature that dwelled on the seaweed attached to the pier. It was about a half inch long, had 6 prong-like feelers at one and two legs in the middle. It seemed to have no backbone as it squirmed in every direction when touched. From my guidebook, looking at the picture and description of the Long-Horn Skeleton Shrimp and noting that its habitat is well within the reaches of where I found it, I believe that the creature I saw is atleast related to this Skeleton shrimp.

A second animal I saw today lived on the seaweed just as the Skeleton Shrimp did and looked to me like a tiny, grey or colorless shrimp with too many antennae for me to count. They moved very quickly, covered almost the entire surface of the seaweed, and curled up when they died. Looking at my guidebook, I thought that I may have either seen a Red-eyed amphipod, a Scud, or a Mottled Tube-maker but the description of the latter two led me to believe that neither of them were what I saw. The closest match was the Red-eyed amphipod, similar in length, color, and habitat. A third animal I saw was a large shellfish creature clinging to the seaweed under the pier. Brownish in color and covered with the small shrimp-like creature I described earlier, the shell was about one inch in width and two inches in length. I thought that there might be an animal living inside the shell that wasn’t exposed, but didn’t want to disturb it. The shape of the shell looked most like the California Mussel from my guidebook, but since the location didn’t match the location of the shell I found, I turned to the Blue Mussel instead. Matching in habitat, description, and location, I believe what I saw may have been a Blue Mussel. A fourth animal I saw was a small grey crab, with eight legs (including two pinchers) and about an inch in size. The closest match I could find in the guide book was the Flat Mud Crab which lives among oysters and in bays. Because I didn’t get the chance to look at the crab for very long, I may be way off on this one but from what I can remember and wrote down, this looks to be the closest.

Looking at the Hitchhiker’s Guide before researching the identity of the daisy-patterned creature online, I thought that the first image of Diplosoma Tunicate looked like it could be related. When I typed in the name online to find more pictures, I found a link to the government of Massachusetts’ advisory on this invasive species. I found on this site that the Diplosoma Tunicate was most likely not the same substance because it looks more porous and more like a coral-type creature than a jelly-like creature. I did find on this site though the Botryllus schlosseri which is described as a gelatinous colony with a star-like pattern and is mostly translucent. This matched part of the description of the substance we found, and the pattern in the pictures are definitely related to the pattern of what we found. I can’t be sure that this is exactly what we found, but the similarities in appearance and description of the habitat of the creature and the typical colors make me think that this is either the creature, or is something closely related. In any case, I now believe that what we found under the pier was an invasive tunicate made up of zooids. So there you have it, and from this further research I now think even more that what we saw was related to the Botryllus scholosseri. The other jelly-like creature, almost completely orange in color and just as gooey-looking, though upon closer look seems to be almost spongey. Looking in the guidebook, the closest match I can find is the Orange Sheath Turnicate. Just as the daisy-like substance is a turnicate, so is the orange substance, but I wonder if they are related?

-Lydia T

My sources:

http://www.mass.gov/czm/invasives/docs/invaders/d_listerianum.pdf

http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/Botryllus_schlosseri.htm

dictionary.com

http://www.edc.uri.edu/restoration/html/gallery/plants/sea.htm

http://www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu/ezidweb/seaweeds/index.php

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From Snails to Whales

Welcome to Snails to Whales, Bruce Berman's blog focused on both the little and the big things that make Boston Harbor such an interesting and extraordinary place to live, work and play.

With 50 miles of protected water, four sheltered bays, seven river systems, 34 islands and a nine-foot average tide, Boston Harbor is one of the most diverse urban ecosystems in America.

This blog focuses on the flora and fauna of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay - on the beach, the shore, and the harbor islands, and in the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Mass Bay - including this ecosystems most important species - people.

During the summer, it is also a place for my Boston University Students and my colleagues at Save the Harbor / Save the Bay to share their work and experiences.

Where I am coming from...

Love that clean(er) water
Learning about the Boston Harbor Cleanup from the waterway’s eyes, ears, and mouthpiece

By Brian Fitzgerald, BU Bridge

On Georges Island, Bruce Berman talks with his students about the history of the Boston Harbor Cleanup,
which is largely complete. Photo by Vernon Doucette

Bruce Berman, aboard a ferry from Boston’s Long Wharf to Georges Island, poses a question to his students: “How clean is clean enough?”

He’s talking about the water below.

It’s a brilliant July day, with the smell of salt spray in the air. The sky is clear, and so is the ocean. But there was a time when Boston Harbor wasn’t so clean, when the stench of sewage assaulted the nostrils of anyone who went near it.

Berman is the communications director for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay, a public-interest environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to help restore and protect the harbor and Massachusetts Bay. He also teaches a Metropolitan College summer course called Politics, Public Relations, and Public Policy: The Boston Harbor Cleanup.

“The Boston Harbor Cleanup is an amazing success story, and I just love to share it with students,” says Berman, noting that the harbor’s “bad old days” weren’t that long ago. Those were the days when untreated human waste, syringes, condoms, and tampon applicators routinely washed ashore. The antiquated sewage treatment plants on Deer Island and Nut Island were so poorly designed and maintained that they flooded during even mild rainstorms, sending millions of gallons of untreated waste directly into the harbor.

Since then, bacteria counts in the water have decreased by more than two-thirds. Now the harbor teems with plants and animals, and people can legally dig for clams on Carson Beach in South Boston, which was unheard of in the 1980s.

“It was one of the filthiest harbors in America, and now it’s one of the cleanest,” says Berman. “What I’m trying to impress upon students is how this incredible comeback occurred, and how business, advocacy groups, environmentalists, and government can affect the outcome of large projects such as the Boston Harbor Cleanup through negotiation.”

Paradise regained

Berman points to the left as the boat cruises by the cleanup’s centerpiece: the gargantuan white egglike tanks of the Deer Island waste treatment plant, which in 1995 replaced the antiquated facility. The plant treats an average of 350 million gallons of sewage a day.

“And what comes out of the Deer Island treatment plant?” he asks. Berman, his booming baritone competing with the roar of planes taking off from Logan Airport, has a habit of putting students on the spot to see if they’re paying attention.

“The outfall pipe,” say several simultaneously. “Treated water,” chime in a few more.

“That’s right,” he says with a smile. “The plant separates the solid and liquid waste, and it pumps the treated water through the 9.5-mile outfall pipe, which empties into Massachusetts Bay. The resulting sludge is converted to high-grade fertilizer.”

Now Berman returns to his original question: “How clean is clean enough?” There’s no quick and clear answer to this one. “It’s a question that at the end of the day the federal courts had to decide.”

In 1985, a landmark federal court case required that the harbor’s beaches be made swimmable and fishable by 2000. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay was formed the next year to raise public awareness of the $4.5 billion Boston Harbor Cleanup. Sewer ratepayers in the 43 cities and towns financing the project cried foul over the prospect of astronomically rising bills, but because of the determination of environmental advocacy groups such as Berman’s, the cleanup was largely completed on schedule.

Berman says it isn’t finished, however. There are still frequent beach closures because the counts of Enterococcus bacteria exceed the federal and state standard for swimming. The culprit: filthy storm water and sewage, much of it from leaky pipes and illegal hookups emptying into storm sewers, and then into the harbor.

“So is the harbor clean enough,” the Springfield native asks his students, “when you can’t swim in it one out of five days in the summer?”

Work to be done

Berman and his class look out from Georges Island to Gallops Island (left) and the white tanks of the waste treatment plant on Deer Island (right). Photo by Vernon Doucette

This summer the state approved one of the last parts of the cleanup: the construction, by 2011, of a 2.1-mile tunnel near the Dorchester and South Boston shorelines that will hold sewage and storm water during bad weather. It then will be pumped to Deer Island for treatment.

Berman is ecstatic over this development, the result of “tireless negotiation and consensus-building,” he says. “After 2011, we’re looking at beach closings once every five years, when there is a major storm, instead of once every five days.”

But he is not about to let his guard down. To say that he is a man obsessed with the harbor cleanup would be an understatement. Berman is also Save the Harbor/Save the Bay’s “Baywatcher,” and he lives on his 40-foot trawler Verandah. Polluters beware: if you’re discharging oil or sewage into Boston Harbor, the Baywatcher just might be watching.

He is quick to point out that his zealotry is not just on behalf of the harbor’s flora and fauna. “The harbor is for everyone,” he says. “If you’re from a working class or poor family in Boston, and you can’t afford a Cape Cod getaway in the summer, a clean harbor is important. The same is true if you’re a tourist vacationing in Boston or you happen to live in a pricey waterfront condo.”

Accordingly, Berman, who was a political consultant and contributing editor to the Phoenix newspaper before joining Save the Harbor/Save the Bay nearly 10 years ago, also teaches his students about the harbor’s role in the city’s economy. He points out that in the early 1990s, just a few ferries cruised the harbor’s waters. Today, more than 100,000 people visit its islands each summer, discovering their ecological and historic treasures.

“The best way to protect the harbor cleanup,” Berman tells his students, “is to make sure that the public has access to the resources and can see a return on its investment.”

Trevor Kosmolsick (MET’05) has lived in Boston for seven years, but until taking Berman’s course, he had never been to the waterfront. “I’ve also wanted to go camping in the area, but I never knew that you could camp on a few of the islands,” he says. “Bruce Berman is not only a great professor, but the ultimate tour guide.”

He also backs up his words with actions. Sometimes he takes off his shirt and dives in the water to demonstrate to passing boaters that it’s safe to swim. To show people on ferries that fishing is safe, he’s been known to grab one of the bluefish or striped bass he’s caught and (very carefully) plant a wet kiss on it.

“What I want everyone to understand is that investment in the environment really does pay off,” says Berman. “We’re willing to pay for a clean Boston Harbor, so we should enjoy it.”

From Snails to Whales

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Class #3

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