Bright and early this morning the Essex students and I headed out with our buckets and shovels to see what we could find living in the sediment on a muddy beach. The echo of shouts and shrieks rang out around Pottery Creek as the students discovered their first worms. Among finding worms the students also found live sand dollars, burrowing anemones and a silky cucumber in the sediment.
While at Pottery Creek we moved to the rocky sections to mark the invasive green crabs. Altogether we found and marked about 60 green crabs; with the ‘crab whisperer’ of the group finding 20 on his own (he was carrying them by the handful and pocketful!). Great job!
This afternoon the students took a closer look at the live worms they collected. They did really well, identifying seven different species from today and two from yesterday. Looking at the worms under the microscopes proved quite interesting, especially the trumpet worms with their pretty iridescent golden setae.
For the rest of the afternoon the students took a break from the lab to visit the aquarium giftshop and play in the touch tank. Lots of fun!
This evening (if it is not raining!) the group plans to have a camp fire…after they send the ‘crab whisperer’ in search of firewood to see if he has other hunter, gatherer skills!
Hunting for worms.
Bamboo worm still partially in its tube of sediment.
Live sand dollar.
The big crab hunt.
Handfuls of crabs.
Today the crabs all got pink nail polish.
Sorting through their worms.
No comments:
Post a Comment