South Carleton, Earl of March & Osgoode

This week we welcomed over 40 students from three schools within the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (South Carleton High, Earl of March Secondary and Osgoode Township High) to the Huntsman campus for a week long marine biology field course. Below are some pictures from their week in New Brunswick.

The students on our research vessel, the Fundy Spray.

Sorting through the animals collected using the benthic drag.

One of the groups caught a lobster!

The plankton collected from the bay ready to be studied. 

Using the microscopes to identify the collected plankton.  

Touring the Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium.

Exploring the diverse animals of a rocky intertidal zone.

Lots of sea stars under this rock!

In the lab having a closer look at the collected invertebrates, including this scallop.

The students drew, described and identified their invertebrates.

Dr. Heather Hunt speaking to the students about the UNB marine semester that is based at the Huntsman. 

Studying the anatomy of sea stars & urchins.

Assisting with data collection about invasive green crabs.

The crabs are measured, categorised by gender & marked.

Exploring the diversity of animals that live in a muddy shore.

A large blood worm collected from the mud.

Behaviour lab: does the size of the urchin affect flipping rate?

Behaviour lab: how do different arthropods react to light?

Doing a Kahoot to test their knowledge from the week.

For more pictures from the marine biology week check out the Huntsman Education Department twitter. 

Ottawa Catholic Schools

For over 25 years high school students from the Ottawa Catholic School Board have been travelling to St. Andrews for a marine biology field course at the Huntsman. The students spend time on our research vessel, explore various shorelines, observe marine invertebrate behaviour and anatomy in the lab and use microscopes to peer into the amazing world of plankton. The students are also exposed to maritime life on Grand Manan Island through whale watching, visiting a lobster fisherman, hiking to a lighthouse and learning about the dulse industry.

Below are some pictures from the 2016 field course.

Viewing live phytoplankton and zooplankton collected from the bay.

Enjoying the touch tank at the Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium.

A jar full of plankton.

We used the benthic drag while on our research vessel, the Fundy Spray.

Sorting the animals collected from the bottom of the bay.

Lots of sea cucumbers!

Using the secchi disk to determine the light penetration in the bay.

Identifying and observing the animals collected from the boat.

Learning about invasive species in the bay.

Studying the anatomy of echinoderms.

Testing out the awesome new microscope camera donated to us by Lumenera.

Exploring the intertidal zone.

We found lots of animals including fish called rock gunnels.

The students saw 12 humpbacks while whale watching with Sea Watch Tours!

This whale sustained an injury to its fluke by a ship strike.

The humpbacks were very active at the surface including spyhopping.

Humpbacks can be identified by the unique pattern on their fluke. This is Quixote.

Humpbacks are positively buoyant which means they need to raise their fluke and push themselves down when diving.

Grey seals lounging.

Back on the mainland studying the effect of temperature on the feeding rate of barnacles.

Studying the flipping behaviour of sea stars.

Bell ringer...how much do you remember from the week?!

One of the questions from the bell ringer. Do you know the answers?

Throughout the week we have also been posting some pictures from the groups marine biology adventures, on the Huntsman Education Department twitter page. 

Rohan Woods School

Every other year middle school students from Rohan Woods School in St. Louis, Missouri join us on the Huntsman campus for a week of marine biology. Throughout the week the students are introduced to different habitats and animals that live in the bay. Here are some pictures from their week in St. Andrews.  

Phytoplankton and zooplankton were collected while on the research vessel.

Sorting through the animals collected from the bottom of the bay.

The students collected lots of live animals to study in the lab, including sea stars.

They also found a sea mouse! (Which is a worm.)

Collecting data on the temperature and salinity in the bay.

Low tide!

In the lab studying the plankton using the microscopes.

Identifying and describing the animals collected from the research vessel.

Watching the salmon feeding while touring the Huntsman Fundy Discovery Aquarium.

Conducting an experiment to understand ocean currents. Note the hot water (red) on the top and the cold water (blue) on the bottom.

Exploring the intertidal zone.

The students found lots of sea stars!

How does size affect the flipping rate of sea stars and urchins?

Preparing to go whale watching by drawing life size whales.

Learning about the bird banding station on campus.

The banders demonstrated how to tell the age on the birds.

One of the beautiful birds collected and waiting to be banded.

Depending on the size of the birds some of the bands are pretty small.

Collecting marine debris and data along the shoreline. Our data will be submitted to the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.

Heading out into the Bay of Fundy to go whale watching on Quoddy Link Marine.

The students saw a young humpback whale identified as the 2015 calf of Spoon.  

He is only 18 months old and came up covered in mud!

On the hunt for the invasive green crab.

Once collected the crabs were measured and marked.