We woke up to another sunny day on campus. Thank you to whoever ordered the sun for this week!
Our first activity of the day was in the lab taking a closer look at some of the invertebrates that inhabit the local marine environment. The students did some amazing drawings and had lots of fun naming all of their animals! The favourite animal of the lab was probably the gooey moon snail (see picture below)!
To finish the morning the students had a quick presentation about invasive species and after lunch we headed to Pottery Creek in search of the invasive green crab. The students helped us to gain valuable information such as the size and gender of the crabs living on the beach (the majority of which were male). By chance the students ended up splitting into two groups and wow did the team of four girls do well; they found 140 crabs in just a couple of hours! It was a successful afternoon on the beach.
Late in the afternoon the tide chased us back to the lab where the students studied the external anatomy of live sea stars and urchins. The students learned just how difficult it can be to do a portrait of a moving organism! With some time left before supper a few of the students visited the touch pool in the aquarium. I was so proud to catch them teaching aquarium visitors all about the animals that we had studied during the day!
During the last marine activity of the evening the group did an experiment to test the strength of sea star and urchin tube feet. The students learned that the animals are pretty strong but also that harnessing the animals in fishing line is definitely a fine art!
Again the students came together in the evening for a game of Frisbee and a movie night.
They are looking forward to tomorrow when the head out on the Huntsman research vessel, the Fundy Spray. It looks like it will be another sunscreen day!
Drawing a blood star.
Moon snail slime!
The crab hunt is on!
One of the crabs, marked and ready for release.
Sea star under the microscope.
Trying the harness a sea star...good luck!
Frisbee in the sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment