Clarington Central – Day 1

Yesterday after a 16 hour bus trip a group of students and teachers from Clarington Central Secondary School arrived on campus at 7:30am ready for five days of immersion into marine biology.  They dropped their stuff in the residence and then had a quick breakfast at Anderson House.  After an introduction to the Huntsman and our campus, with Tracey, the students were split into two groups to cycle through the plankton lab and a trip on our research vessel, the Fundy Spray.
 
In the aquarium lab the students used the microscopes to view plankton samples collected in Passamaquoddy Bay.  The students saw lots of different species of diatoms (after they realized that is not just dirt on the slide!), dinoflagellates, and zooplankton, including copepods.  Everyone had to draw and identify six different species of plankton they viewed on their slides.  The students really enjoyed seeing the live plankton moving around on the slides.  The microscopic world is pretty cool!
 
Each group also went for a trip on the Fundy Spray.  While on the boat the students collected plankton, conducted scallop drags to collect invertebrates from the bottom of the bay, and gathered data on the water, such as salinity and temperature at different depths.  The students really enjoyed sorting through the rocks that were brought up from the bottom to see what animals they could find.  There were lots of animals, including sea urchins, crabs, sea anemones, brittle stars, sea peaches, and scallops.  One of the scallops was opened up to show the students the internal anatomy.  So as not to waste the scallop it was cleaned and the students had the opportunity to try a piece of the muscle.  The students were brave, with most having a piece of the raw scallop they had just collected from the bottom.  Yummy! 
 
At the end of the afternoon the groups came together to tour the Fundy Discovery Aquarium.  They watched a video explaining the high tides of the Bay of Fundy, viewed the seahorse exhibit, watched Snorkel and Loki, the harbour seals, eat their supper, checked out all the different coloured lobsters, and played in the invertebrate and skate touch pools.  They had lots of fun touching the skates, sea stars, sea cucumbers, and scallops in the touch pools.
 
In the evening the students rested and settled into their rooms at Needler Hall. 

Viewing plankton in the aquarium lab.

A cool polychaete in the plankton sample!

Wow, that is lots of phytoplankton!

Our captain dumping out the scallop drag.

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Scallop snack!

brittle star

Sorting through the rocks and animals collected from the bottom.

One of the different coloured lobsters at the aquarium.

Snorkel showing off.