Grand Manan Community School

Yesterday I had 22 excited grade 6 students from Grand Manan Community School arrive at the Huntsman to take part in the Ocean Discovery Program.  After their long ferry ride they were eager to touch the animals, use the microscopes and investigate the intertidal zone.

The focus of the grade 6 science Diversity of Life unit is the Phylum Arthropoda, so a large part of the Ocean Discovery Program is learning about different marine arthropods.  The students started out looking at plankton and microscopic arthropods such as copepods.  They were surprised at the abundance of the copepods on their slides and to find out the Plankton on SpongeBob is a copepod!  The next activity took us outside to the intertidal zone.  While searching under the rocks and seaweed the students found two species of arthropods, barnacles and sideswimmers, as well as lots of other interesting animals including a red-lined worm and mini sea stars.  After a quick lunch the students were very excited to handle, describe and draw two species of arthropods, an Acadian hermit crab and a green crab.  For the last arthropod activity of the day I talked to the students about lobsters and they really enjoyed getting to see Jaws, our live lobster friend.

Thank you to the students, teacher, and parent chaperones from Grand Manan for a great day exploring some of the marine arthropods of the Bay!   

For more information on The Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program visit our website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.  Also, the Arthropod poster used during the program is for sale at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium gift shop. 

Drawing copepods.

Searching the beach at Brandy Cove.

Describing the characteristics of a green crab.

Jaws!

The arthropod poster used during the program.

Vincent Massey Elementary School

On this cold and blustery day we hosted the grade 6 students from Vincent Massey Elementary School as part of The Ocean Discovery Program.  Thankfully, they were well prepared for the weather and had winter coats, hats, and mitts to keep them warm while we explored the intertidal zone.  Imagine, last week we were on the beach in t-shirts! 

Regardless of the weather the students enthusiastically searched under the rocks and seaweed to see which animals were hiding from the wind.  Today, they found lots of sideswimmers and periwinkles.  But as much as they enjoyed the beach I think they were pretty happy to get back to the lab where it was warm!  In the lab the students enjoyed using the microscopes during the plankton lab, getting up close to Pumpkin our black and orange spotted lobster and seeing the sea slug, a red-gilled nudibranch, laying eggs on the glass tank in the lab.   

The highlight of my day was when a few of the girl chose a crab first during the classification lab!  Usually grade 6 girls tend to be nervous or afraid of the crabs so I was happy when they chose the crab and named her Tina!  

Thank you to the Vincent Massey grade 6 class and their teacher for a wonderful day.  I look forward to visiting their school for the follow-up next week!     

For more information on The Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program visit our website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.

All bundled up to explore the intertidal zone.

There was lots of wind and waves at Brandy Cove.

Searching for copepods!

Red-gilled nudibranch and eggs.

Deer Island Community School

Wow, what a beautiful day to have the grade 5/6 students from Deer Island Community School visit the Huntsman to take part in the Ocean Discovery Program!  The temperature is an amazing 27 degrees Celsius!  Great for exploring the beach and the students and parents got to have a pretty nice ferry crossing.  Hopefully, the weather will be just as nice when I head to Deer Island, with my sea stars and urchins to complete the activities for the program.

Just about every day I learn something new but today I learned quite a few new things!  Since many of the students either have family that fish lobster or work at the processing plant on the island I also learned a thing or two during my lobster presentation.  Such as, how to tell the gender of a lobster just by looking at the size of the tail or how to tell if a female is ready to have eggs by looking at her swimmerets.  Hopefully, the students also learned a couple of things about the amazing arthropod we call the American lobster.  I think they certainly enjoyed meeting our demonstration lobster, Jaws!     

Thank you to the Grade 5/6 students, their teacher, and parent chaperones for a wonderful day exploring the marine environment and its inhabitants!

Would your grade 6 students enjoy learning about lobsters and other marine arthropods?  Check out the information on the Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.

Green crabs the students collected.

 

Drawing plankton species found under the microscope.

Choosing invertebrates to study.

Jaws!

InDepth

The most recent edition of InDepth, the Huntsman quarterly newsletter is now available on our website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/22nd_edition.pdf. 

Contents of the newsletter include: information on a free public lecture series at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium, details on a rockweed harvesting study being conducted by Huntsman scientist Lou Van Guelpen, news on the International Aquaculture Innovation Centre’s research into sea lice and bacterial kidney disease in salmon, as well as, information on the education, development, and facilities departments. 

If you would like to subscribe to InDepth, please email huntsman@huntsmanmarine.ca.

St. Stephen Middle School (part 2)

The past two days we have welcomed both English and French Immersion grade 6 students from St. Stephen Middle School as part of The Ocean Discovery Program.     

One of the highlights for the students, and I think the teachers also was the plankton lab.  The students really enjoyed using the microscopes in the aquarium lab to look at the microscopic plants (phytoplankton) and animals (zooplankton).  It is exciting to see the students find an interesting planktonic species and want to show the other students in the class or to hear shouts of amazement when the students see the zooplankton for the first time!  After playing plankton bingo and doing some drawings, the students were asked some questions about where these plants and animals fit in the food web.  They quickly realized that phytoplankton and zooplankton, which they had never heard of, let alone seen, are vital to all other life in the oceans.  It is amazing what lives in a drop of seawater!

Do you have a class of grade 6 students who would love to use microscopes and see what lives in a drop of seawater?  Visit our website for more information, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.

Intensely studying the plankton.

Happy as a clam!

Drawing and describing a rock crab.

St. George Elementary School

The past two days we worked with three classes of grade 6 students from St. George Elementary School as part of The Ocean Discovery Program.  It was a great couple of days with eager students and tides that let us have lots of beach to explore.  We even introduced Flat Stanley from British Columbia to the New Brunswick coast!  

After working hard in the lab all day the students were taken to the beach in front of the Huntsman to search under the rocks and the seaweed and see what animals they could find.  They did a wonderful job and found a great diversity of live animals including green crabs, sideswimmers, tiny sea stars, mussels, periwinkles, clams, urchins, and even a blood worm.  They also were very excited to find a number of empty sand dollar tests! 

Thank you to the grade 6 students and teachers of St. George Elementary for a wonderful couple of days!          

For more information on The Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program visit our website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.

Flat Stanley shaking hands with a rock crab (ouch!).

Jaws allowed us to demonstrate how to determine a lobster's gender (she is a girl!).

Having a blast using the microscopes to study the plankton.

Exploring the beach.

St. Stephen Middle School

Today we welcomed to the Huntsman a class of grade 6 students from St. Stephen Middle School as part of the Ocean Discovery Program.  

One of highlights of the program is the invertebrate classification activity.  During this activity students draw and describe three live marine invertebrates including: two arthropods (hermit, green, rock or toad crab) and one non-arthropod (sea star, urchin, scallop or waved whelk).  The students also use a field guide to find the common and Latin names of the animals they are studying.  This is always an exciting activity because the students get to observe and handle the animals as never before.  Below are some pictures of the students conducting this activity.    

A green crab found on the beach and being taken back to the lab for further observation.

Determining the common name of this sea star.

Looking up the Genus and species of the Acadian hermit crab.

One of our crab friends.

One of the toad crabs used for student observations.

Sound like a fun experience you would like to offer your students?  Visit our website for more information, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.

Lecture Series

The Huntsman is launching a free public lecture series at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 20.

The monthly event, intended for general audiences, will feature interesting and informative sessions on science issues that are of interest to our daily lives. The first lecture, which lasts for 45 minutes with a question and answer period followed by a reception, features the Huntsman’s own Dr. Gerhard Pohle and Lou Van Guelpen, who will speak on the topic “Life in the oceans – just what is out there?”

Upcoming lectures include Dr. J. Andrew Cooper, from the St. Andrews Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans, Canada, on April 24, and the University of New Brunswick’s Dr. Gary Saunders on May 15.

Dr. Cooper’s presentation will be “Backyard Marine Biodiversity: Local research is leading to global conservation,” while Dr. Saunders’ presentation is entitled “Through the Looking Glass: Considering Seaweed Diversity in Atlantic Canada Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

These lectures are being presented to showcase the amount of interesting current research on the oceans that is being undertaken.  A reception will follow, so if possible, please contact the Huntsman at 529-1200 or at huntsman@huntsmanmarine.ca if you would like to attend the free event.

Marine Mammals

Marine Mammals are the focus for today’s March Break Program at the aquarium.  Find below some information on marine mammals in the Bay of Fundy:

·         two species of seals live in the Bay, harbour and grey;

·         four species of baleen whales visit during the summer and fall, minke, fin, humpback, and North Atlantic right whales; and

·         toothed whales that live in the Bay include the harbour porpoises and the Atlantic white-sided dolphins.

The resident marine mammals at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium, Snorkel and Loki the harbour seals await your visit.  The aquarium is currently open 10am to 5pm Thursday to Sunday, with seal feedings at 11am and 4pm each day.  Visit our website for more information www.huntsmanmarine.ca.

Snorkel interacting with a student.

Lobsters

Lobsters are the theme for the today’s March Break Program at the aquarium.  So in honour of that here are some notes about American lobster (Homarus americanus) anatomy:

·         the large pair of antennae are used to feel the environment,

·         the two smaller pair of antennules are used to ‘smell’,

·         their eyes don’t distinguish colours and don’t see clear images but are very sensitive to light and are able to detect movement and shadows,

·         they have two stomachs, and

·         tomalley, the green stuff inside a cooked lobster is the liver.

Come check out the many different colours and sizes of lobsters at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium, open 10am to 5pm during March Break. 

Grade 3 to 6 students can still sign up for tomorrow’s marine mammal program at the aquarium.  For more information visit the website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/aquarium.html.   

Fabulous Fish!

Today’s theme for the Aquarium March Break Program is fabulous fish.  I had lots of fun this morning with the students observing the sturgeon, skates, and halibut in the Bay of Fundy fishes tank, making glow-in-the-dark deep sea fish, and playing sharks and herring.  We also listened to a presentation by Joe Pratt who is doing his master’s on sharks.  He showed us some shark jaws, basking shark gill rakers and a huge tooth from the extinct megalodon shark.  I am sure that the students will have fun the rest of the day as they learn about fish communication by drumming with Jim.     

Sound like fun?  There are still a few spots available for grade 3-6 students for the remaining days of the program.  For more information visit the website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca or call (506) 529-1200.  

If you child can’t make the March Break Program don’t worry, the aquarium is open to the public from 10am to 5pm during March Break. 

Observing the sturgeon in the Bay of Fundy fishes tank.

Learning about sharks.

The megalodon tooth!

Incredible Invertebrates

Students around New Brunswick are very happy this week as it is March Break!  And we at the Huntsman are happy because this week is our very first March Break program at the Fundy Discovery Aquarium! 

During the program each day has a theme with yesterday’s being marine invertebrates.  We had lots of fun with the students feeding the crabs, anemones and sea stars in the touch tank, learning how barnacles feed, and making gooey snail slime! 

Sound like fun?  There are still a few spots available for grade 3-6 students for the remaining days of the program.  For more information visit the website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca or call (506) 529-1200.   

If you child can’t make the March Break Program don’t worry, the aquarium is open to the public from 10am to 5pm during March Break. 

Feeding the animals in the touch tank.

Barnacle feeding.

March Break at the Aquarium

The Fundy Discovery Aquarium is open from 10am to 5pm during the New Brunswick March Break, starting today March 2 until Sunday, March 11.  Come and visit the seals, lobsters, sea stars, crabs and skates!  Also, throughout the week there will be special presentations for the public: 

·         Monday, March 5 @ 2pm – Invertebrates

·         Wednesday, March 7 @ 11:15am – Sharks

·         Thursday, March 8 @ 1:30pm – Lobsters

·         Friday, March 9 afternoon (time TBA) – Whale Feeding

We hope to see you there!

To confirm the presentation times or for more information on the Fundy Discovery Aquarium call (506) 529-1216 or email aquarium@huntsmanmarine.ca.

Rock crab

One of the arthropod species that students participating in the Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program at the Huntsman get a chance to hold, observe, and draw is the rock crab (Cancer irroratus).  This near shore crab species is collected from the ocean floor using the scallop drag on our research vessel.

·         Rock crab prey includes small scallops, mussels, gastropods, sea urchins, brittlestars, sand shrimp, marine worms, and for the larger rock crab, small lobsters.

·         Predators of adult rock crabs include lobsters and green crabs, an invasive species.

·         Mating occurs after a female has moulted and she still has a soft shell.

·         A female can produce anywhere from 4,000 to 330,000 eggs.

·         Rock crabs are harvested commercially in parts of the Maritimes.

For more information on the Grade 6 Ocean Discovery Program visit our website, www.huntsmanmarine.ca/html/grade_6.html.