Later in the morning the group, armed with buckets, headed to Indian Point, a huge intertidal zone on the other side of St. Andrews. The group searched under rocks and seaweed to find all of the animals that were hiding while the tide is out. They found green crabs, sideswimmers, periwinkles, barnacles, and even some sea urchins and sea stars.
After a yummy lunch at Anderson House the group visited another intertidal zone to search for the invasive green crabs. When a crab was found its carapace was measured, it was flipped over to determine if it was a male or female, and it was marked with a spot of nail polish. The students learned one of the reasons these crabs are successful invasive species is because they are aggressive! Hold them carefully!
Then as the tide started to come in the group went to the lab to study echinoderms and learn about the water vascular system. The students did some drawings of the oral and aboral sides of sea stars and urchins. Using the microscopes they found different parts of the animals, such as the madreporite and the pedicellariae, which they labeled on their drawings. There are some artists in the group!
To finish out the afternoon I talked to the students about the King of the Crustaceans – The American Lobster. Unfortunately, this presentation did not have a tasting portion but the group did enjoy seeing our live demo lobster, Pinchy.
In the evening the group had a short presentation about whales in the Bay of Fundy to help them prepare for their whale watching trip to Grand Manan Island. They saw pictures of whales other groups have seen and learned how to ID the different species.
Tomorrow the group leaves bright and early to catch the ferry to the island. Good luck and hope you see lots of whales!
Some of the great drawings of the collected invertebrates.
Drawing and describing a scallop.
scale worm
Hunting for crabs...
...found one!
Echinoderms under the microscope.
Pinchy!
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