From Snails to Whales: Assignment 1: Drawings & Facts

Monday, July 21, 2014

Assignment 1: Drawings & Facts

07/18/14

Hi All!

Can we all just agree on how interesting, knowledgeable, and fun our field trip was on Friday! I cannot wait for our next field trip! I first wanted to post a picture of our beloved friend, the mop, who joined us in our adventure thanks to Charlie.

For the first assignment I have decided to post the drawings I have created for each specie and I will include my notes plus any additional information in regards to each after the drawings.

Part 1: Recreation Fishing

All the recreational fishing species (except the first one, as it was brought by Professor Berman) were found on the ocean, near the Boston Harbor Islands when it was low tide and from around 10 am to 11 am.

The first drawing is known as the Clam Worm (N. virens). Per my notes the worm I observed was about 21 cm long and had a width of 1 cm. It had orange segments, many many of them, and its body had green and brown. When I touched the body of it, it was extremely soft and the mouth contained two black teeth. Its anus was located between the middle of the body and its head. This type of worm is common in New England and are commonly used as baits. They are known to have about 200 segments and two pair of eyes. They are mostly found on sand, sandy mud, clay, and various peat bottoms. They also feed from other worms and carrion and range from Maine to Virginia, and entire Pacific Coast.

The second specie is the Black Sea Bass (Centropristis Striata). The bass that we caught was about 15 in long and its colors were beautiful. It was brown and a turquoise color. It also had some black. This specific bass had a long dorsal fin and two pelvic fins. Moreover, it had one pectoral fin in each side and an anal fin. Its mouth was round when it opened ans it had very tiny teeth along the mouth. A very interesting fact is that most of them are born as females and then turn into males. One can tell by the "hump" that is located in between the head and the dorsal fin. They are located along the East Coast from Massachusetts to Florida. Most females can live up to 8 years while males up to 12 years.

The third specie (two of them) are called Yellowtail Flounder (Limanda Ferruginea) The first flounder was about 12 in long and it was brown and greenish with many dark (black) dots on its body. It had a long dorsal fin and anal fin. On the side where the eyes were located, it had a pectoral fin. The second flounder was bigger as it measured approximately 16 in and its colors were a light brown and some green. The second flounder did not have the amount of dots found on the first one and the dots that I did located were very light. Other than that, the other characteristics found on the first flounder were the same as the second one. The two flounders were right eyed. This specie is born with one eye in one side of the body and the other eye on the other side, but as time passes, the eye that is located on the white bottom part of its body, or better known as the blind side, migrates to the other side. This specie is very common in the Atlantic coast from Maine to New Jersey and their life expectancy is about 17 years.

The fourth specie was a Silver Hake (Merluccius Bilinearis). This fish was the smallest fish we caught. It was about 8 in long and it had a gray coat with brown dots on the top. It also had a white bottom. It had one pectoral fins in each side, three dorsal fins, one pelvic fin in each side and two anal fins (the anal fins and pelvic fins were transparent in color). This fish can live up to 14 years and can weight up to five pounds. They migrate depending on seasonal changes and can be found from Maine to South Carolina. Additionally, they feed on fish, crustaceans, and squid and females are serial spawners, meaning that they can produce and release up to three batches of eggs in a single spawning season.

The final specie that was caught was the Atlantic Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis). I was completely amazed on how big and unique this fish was. When measured, it was about 38 in and it had so many colors ranging from purple, red, blue, green, and brown. The bottom of it was white and its tail was green, while the rest of the body was multicolored. It had two dorsal fins, one pectoral fin in each side of its body, one pelvic fin (transparent), and one anal fin. When I counted the number of stripes on the bass, there were about seven, which is a common number for this type of specie. They can live up to 30 years and can weight 55 to 77 pounds. Females can produce a very large quantities of eggs, which are then fertilized by the males once they are released. They can be located along the East Coast from Canada to Florida. They mostly eat fish and their teeth are abrasive rather than cutting. The striped bass is very known in New England as it is an important commercial fish within fisheries. I have to say that holding this fish was quiet an experience!

Part 2: Tide Pool

All the tide pool species were found on one of the tide pools in Lovells Island when the tide was increasing. The time frame was from about 12:45 pm to 1:15 pm.

The first drawing and specie is a Common Periwinkle (Littorina Littorea). This little specie had a dark shell with brown and black colors. It also had very remarkable stripes all round its shell. Some of the stripes were from right to left, while there were some stripes (about four of them) that were thicker and went from side to side (up to bottom). When I looked on the other side of the shell, I noticed a white surrounding on the opening of the shell. Inside this opening, the animal was located. When Professor Berman and our classmate Stephanie sang to it, I was able to notice the animal coming out slowly and I observed its two black antennas and black head. This specific specie was about 2 cm long and they may grow to be up to 4 cm. Also, it prefers hard surfaces and is the most common northern rock and winkle. An interesting fact is that they are originally from Europe and are very famous in Italian fish markets, but can be found from Canada to Virginia. They are mostly in intertidal zones which is the reason they were located in the tidal pool we observed as some parts of it are under water while high tide and above water at low tide.

The second specie drawn is the Northern Rock Barnacle (Semibalanus Balanoides). This type of barnacle is the most common in New England. The barnacles I observed had six plates, which is a common characteristic for this type of specie. As you can see from the picture below, there were more than one located on the rock and some of the were much more developed than others. This specie also prefers intertidal zones and can be found from the northern Atlantic to Delaware. Moreover, they are native to the United States. Per my observations there were two colors on them; a bright yellow on the interior with a white linings on each. Most of them are originally white, but can change colors depending on their environment (stained by the sun or algal encounters). Also, the inside of it, or better known as the basal plate, was larger than other barnacles I have observed during our field trips. They can grow to be up to 2.5 cm each.

The third specie is the Asian Shore Crab (Hemigrapsus Sanguineus). As I observed this specie I noticed it had four legs in each side and one claw on each side. Its colors were quiet amazing. It had light green near its eyes, and black, dark green, and brown on its body. Its legs had green and brown segments, which I found to be pretty interesting. I also noticed two eyes near its claws. This crab was very small compare to the ones we saw at the Barking Crab docks. The one I saw was about 2 cm and they can grow up to 2.5 cm. They are square like shape and have three marginal teeth. They can vary in color and are also found in intertidal zones depending on the weather. During winter time they are subtidal. This specie is not U.S native and they are originally from Asia, as the name implies. They can be found in Maine to North Carolina and prefers rocks, which is the reason most of them are located underneath rocks (where we found the one I observed) .

The fourth specie, which we had the option to chose, was the Common Slipper Shell (Crepidula Fornicata). While observing the surrounding of where I found this shell, I noticed the rocky shore, which is a common place where once can find this specie. They attached themselves to any hard object (the one I observed was attached to a rock). The shell had many little turns and its colors were white and red. Also, the edge was smooth and curved. The inside (the animal) had different colors, ranging from very light brown, dark brown, yellow, and black. The shell was about 3 cm long and they can grow up to 38 mm. They can be found in the Gulf of Mexico and Massachusetts Bay and at times (accidentally) in Europe. This specie is also unique as they also experience a sex reversal (just like the Black Sea Bass). The difference between this specie and the Sea Bass is that they are usually born as males and later become females. Another note I would like to make is that they are simply delicious! I had the opportunity to taste the one I observed and it was pretty good, it just needed a touch of lemon. Yum!

Well, I hope everyone learned something new on Friday because I certainly did. It was quiet an experience! I would like to apologize for the art, lets just say drawing is not a forte of mine. See you all Friday!

Sources:

Required Guides

Boston Harbor Seaside Educator's Guide

Hitchhikers Guide

http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/7-2006/clam-worm-44320.html

http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles/species/sea_bass/species_pages/black_sea_bass.htm

http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles/species/flounder/species_pages/yellowtail_flounder.htm

http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles/species/hake/species_pages/silver_hake.html

http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles/species/bass/species_pages/atlantic_striped_bass.htm

Daniela Baeza-Prepetit

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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

Monday, July 21, 2014

Assignment 1: Drawings & Facts

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