Ottawa Catholic High Schools – Day 1

Yesterday a group of students from four high schools within the Ottawa Catholic School Board arrived on campus for a five day immersion in marine biology.  After travelling on the bus all night they were a bit groggy but Tracey got them going with a trip on our research vessel, the Fundy Spray.  While on the boat the students conducted two scallop drags, a plankton tow, and gathered data about the water of Passamaquoddy Bay, including temperature, and salinity.  The students were excited to see the diversity of animals, including sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers, and sea vases, which were pulled up from the bottom using the drag.  A few were even brave enough to have a taste of the fresh-from-the-ocean scallop! 
 
In the afternoon the group visited the aquarium lab to study the plankton they had collected from the bay.  There was a fantastic diversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton in the samples for the students to look at using the microscopes.  They had even collected a tiny jelly!  The students were amazed a just how much microscopic life can live in just one drop of ocean water. 
 
To finish off the afternoon the group had a tour of the Fundy Discovery Aquarium.  They watched a video in the theatre about the giant tides of the Bay of Fundy, viewed the new seahorse exhibit (there were even tiny baby seahorses!), played in the invertebrate and skate touch pools, picked up some souvenirs in the gift shop, and had front row seats to watch Snorkel and Loki, the harbour seals, have their supper.
 
The students had some free time in the evening to rest up for a fun and busy Day 2.   

Drawing some of the plankton species they collected.

Zooplankton and phytoplankton collected while on the research vessel.

Learning about baleen.

Exploring the touch pool at the aquarium.

Happy to be holding a crab!