June Video of the Month - Hermit Crab

Today I am excited to be starting a new feature on the blog, "Video of the Month".  While out in the field or in the lab with students we are sometimes able to capture amazing and special moments on film.

The video this month is an acadian hermit crab (Pagurus acadianus) switching shells.  Watch carefully because the switch happens in the first couple of seconds.

The acadian hermit crab carries an abandoned gastropod (snail) shell on its back to protect its soft abdomen.  They will switch shells as they grow.  The shell this crab has chosen is from a waved whelk (Buccinum undatum). 

This video is courtesy of a student from Crescent School who patiently waited to capture this event in our teaching lab.  Thank you Jason!

Crescent School - Day 4

On this beautiful day the Crescent boys headed over to Ministers Island for the morning.  The island is special because it can be reached by foot or car at low tide by a sand bar and also because it was the summer home of Sir William Van Horne, who was the driving force in the completion of the railway across the western part of Canada.  The group toured Covenhoven, the bath house, and the gigantic barn.

During the afternoon the students spent time in the lab learning about echinoderms.  They studied the patterns on an urchin under the microscope, tested the strength of the urchin tube feet, and determined if size effects the flipping rate of sea stars.

Their last activity before departing for the airport was to release back into the ocean all of the animals that were collected and studied all week.  Thank you and safe travels!  

Getting a closer look at the external anatomy of an urchin.

Urchin strongman competition.

Sea star yoga.

Toronto Waldorf School - Day 4

This morning the students walked a short distance down to Pottery Creek and went on a hunt for the invasive green crab.  We are collecting data such as the carapace size and sex of the crabs that are found.  Each crab then receives a small spot of nail polish to mark it before being released.  The students found 178 crabs this morning, with only 66 of those being female.  The largest crab was 7 cm and the smallest was about 0.5 cm.  You have to have some good eyes to see a 0.5 cm crab!  Thank you for helping us collect important information about this invasive species.

After lunch the group converged in the lab to conduct an experiment to determine how temperature affects the feeding rate of barnacles.  The students were quite surprised to see the cirri of the barnacles extending.  

Collecting data.

Marked crabs.

The hunt is on!

A female green crab.

Everyone got excited when the biggest crab of the day was found!

Counting the cirri extensions.

Patiently waiting for the temperature of the water to change.  

Crescent School - Day 3

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with the students that are on campus from Crescent School in Toronto.  We started the morning in the lab studying the animals that were collected while the group was out on the boat Monday. Then as the rain was dissipating we headed to explore a rocky intertidal zone at Indian Point.  While looking under the rocks students found a number of animals including nudibranchs, sea urchins, dogwinkle eggs, sea stars, green crabs, a pink synapta, and hermit crabs.

After lunch we headed out in the fog to go on a wildlife tour with Quoddy Link Marine.  We had a great trip and spotted harbour porpoises, kittiwakes, bald eagles, harbour seals, and a minke whale named Slice.  Slice is one of the first minke whales to visit the area every year and is so names because his dorsal fin is cut off.  It was really great to be able to spend time with this special whale!

Drawing a brittle star in the lab.

A skeleton shrimp on the arm of a blood star 

(as seen using the microscope).

Observing a sea cucumber.

Terebellid worm under the microscope.

A sea star eating a periwinkle.

Exploring the intertidal zone in the fog.

Nudibranchs with eggs under a rock.

Pink synapta

Dogwinkle and its eggs.

Checking out the nesting kittiwakes on White Horse Island.

Head Harbour Light

  

Slice, the minke whale!

The boys from Crescent waiting for the Slice to come up again.

The teachers enjoying hot chocolate on the trip back to town.

Toronto Waldorf School - Day 2

Yesterday morning the students searched the Huntsman collection of rubber boots in preparation for exploring the intertidal zone at Indian Point.  Everyone found a pair that fit and we headed out with buckets to the beach.  The sun was shining and it was a wonderfully low tide.  Some of the students were enjoying themselves so much we had to practically drag them off the beach to go have lunch!

In the afternoon the group joined with another school in the aquarium theatre to have a discussion about the pros and cons of salmon aquaculture.  It was a great discussion with some interesting points brought up by the students.  Then it was into the lab to get up close and personal with lobsters to learn about their anatomy and interesting lifestyle.

In the evening, in between soccer and bocce games, the two schools came together for a presentation on the deep sea.  Hopefully, the creatures of the deep didn't cause any nightmares!

Exploring at Indian Point.

A rough-mantled nudibranch.

A quick little fish called a rock gunnel.

We found a number of green crabs with eggs.

Checking under rocks.

A gorgeous brittle star.

They even found some big sea stars.

Nudibranchs and their eggs.

We spotted a flounder.

 A cute little sculpin.

Sketching the external anatomy of the lobster.

Everyone loved the 5 year old lobster.

Toronto Waldorf School - Day 1

This week we are excited to welcome grade 11 students from the Toronto Waldorf School to our campus.  This will be the first time the school has conducted a field course at the Huntsman so we are really looking forward to the week.

To start off the morning the students did a rotation of studying plankton in the aquarium lab and collecting specimens while aboard our research vessel, the Fundy Spray.  Viewing the fresh plankton in the lab was pretty cool, with the students being able to see lots of phytoplankton and zooplankton, including copepods and sea cucumber larvae.  As well as collecting the fresh plankton on the boat, the students also collected lots of sea stars, hermit crabs, urchins, scallops, and even a sea mouse!

After a yummy lunch at Anderson House the students met in the lab to get a closer look at the animals they had collected while on the Fundy Spray.  We just received new microscopes last week so these students were the first to get to test them out.  The snail fur on the shell of one of the hermit crabs looked amazing under the microscope!

To round out the afternoon the students toured the Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium, which included learning about the tides, exploring the touch tanks, seeing the seahorses, getting splashed during the salmon feeding, and watching the harbour seals, Snorkel and Loki, have their supper.

Below are some pictures from the day.

The ramp to get to the boat at low tide (it will be level 

with the top of the wharf at high tide).

Sorting through the contents of the scallop drag.

 

Sea cucumbers and sea stars.

Look at all those black eyes!

Jars full of plankton.

A homeless hermit crab (don't worry 

we gave it a shell back at the lab).

Drawings and observations in the lab.

A sea mouse.

Study of an armoured shrimp.

Watching the salmon feeding in the aquarium.

An underwater view of the harbour seals.

Liverpool Street Elementary

Yesterday the Grade 5 students from Liverpool Street Elementary School visited the Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium.  The students had a tour of the aquarium and also did the Awesome Arthropods lab.  During the tour the students viewed seahorses, salmon, seals, and lobster, as well as spend time at the touch tanks.  The lab allowed the students time to get up close and personal with crabs, while learning about invertebrates and arthropods.  Come back and visit again soon!

Watching the seal feeding in the morning.

Students made observations about four different 

animals, including the feisty green crabs.

They got up close and personal with rock crabs!

Learning to tell if a crab is a boy or girl.