Introduction to Marine Mammals & Seabirds 2018

This week on campus we had youth from Canada and the US arrive in St. Andrews to participate in the Introduction to Marine Mammals & Seabirds high school field course. Here are some photos from our eventful and busy week.

How many copepods does a right whale eat?

Learning about whale adaptations.

Dressing up to learn about seal adaptations. Thanks to our volunteer!

Exploring the Bay of Fundy with Quoddy Link Marine. We saw many seabirds including gannets.

A curious whale exploring the boat.

Humpback under the water.

You can see the humpback's blow/spray.

Humpback, note the green glow which is the white flipper under the water.

Humpback fluke identified as Ridgeline.

Some of our group was on the Fundy Odyssey.

 

Finback whale.

Playing plankton bingo.

Dissecting albatross boluses that were collected on Hawaii to see if any contain plastic. This one contain a large piece of rope.

Squid beak.

Small pieces of plastic removed from the bolus.

This piece of plastic with nails was also removed from one of the bolues.

Using GPS data from student whale sightings to create a marine sanctuary.

Foggy and windier on our second whale watching trip. We saw the Head Harbour lighthouse.

Checking out a seal colony.

Harbour seals lounging at low tide.

Making t-shirts and memories.

We had a lot of fun exploring the marine mammals and seabirds of the Bay of Fundy with the field course participants this week. We thank the US Fish & Wildlife Service for the unique opportunity to dissect the albatross boluses. Now we look ahead to our next field course All Things Marine, which is open to families.

Young Explorer Day - Shark 2018

This Wednesday our Young Explorer Day program was all about sharks!

Through the day we:

• had shark show & tell with shark skin, jaws, vertebrae and a fossil tooth;
• learned about shark senses such as the ampullae of Lorenzini;
• used flashlights to learn about the tapetum lucidum in a shark's eye;
• played a basking shark buffet game;
• identified shark teeth;
• used meter sticks and chalk to understand shark sizes; and 
• explored the beach.

How many rows of teeth do you see in this shark jaw?

Can you feel the electricity?

Learning about shark ampullae of Lorenzini.

Did you know some sharks are filter feeders?

Describing and drawing shark teeth.

Identifying the teeth of different shark species.

How big are sharks?

Exploring the beach at low tide.

The students found many green crabs.

They also found squid eggs!

We are looking forward to the remaining Young Explorer days this summer, as well as the Advanced Explorer days for ages 11-15 and Jeunes Explorateurs, a French program for ages 5-11. Information and online registration for all these programs can be found on our website.

Young Explorer Day - Microscopic Life 2018

Yesterday the theme of the Young Explorer program was Microscopic Life. Our day was all about investigating the amazing microscopic creatures that live in a drop of seawater. The participants learned to use a microscope, played plankton bingo, collected plankton along the shore, explored the beach, made food chains and matched adult marine animals to their planktonic larvae. We finished the day with small touch tanks filled with animals that start their life as plankton.

Learning to use a microscope.

View of the plankton sample at 40x magnification.

Collecting plankton along the shore.

Exploring to see what animals live on the beach, a green crab.

Rock gunnel fish.

Taking a look at a jelly.

White cross jelly.

Sea urchin.

Lunch time fun on the zip line,

in the outdoor classroom and

playing the drums.

Making a food chain.

Phytoplankton is eaten by zooplankton (a copepod) which is eaten by a right whale.

Did you know that lots of animals in the aquarium start their life in the plankton layer?

Common sea stars do.

The students really enjoyed looking at the plankton using the microscopes. Some of them mentioned that they have microscopes at home. Here are instructions for an easy plankton net that can be made with a pop bottle and some panty hose. Plankton can be collected along the surface of saltwater or freshwater and is amazing to observe.

We are looking forward to the remaining Young Explorer days this summer, as well as the Advanced Explorer days for ages 11-15 and Jeunes Explorateurs, a French program for ages 5-11. Information and online registration for all these programs can be found on our website.

Introduction to Marine Biology 2018

This week we welcomed youth from five provinces and one state to the Huntsman campus to study marine biology. While here they were introduced to the diversity of life in the bay from plankton and seaweeds to invertebrates, fish and deep sea creatures.

Exploring the intertidal zone. What have they found?

A rock gunnel fish.

Collecting a few animals to take back to the lab to observe.

At the lowest point on the beach we found a few exciting animals...

sea stars!

Identifying and drawing the collected animals in the lab.

Onboard the Huntsman research vessel, the Fundy Spray.

The phytoplankton and zooplankton that was collected.

Sorting through the animals collected using the benthic drag.

Brittle stars.

Rock crab.

Skate egg case.

Using the secchi disk.

Keeping an eye out for the great white shark that was seen recently in the bay.

Playing plankton bingo in the lab.

View at 40x magnification.

Studying the animals that can be found on a muddy beach.

Red lined worm.

A good diversity of species were found including moon snails, clam worms, blood worms, ribbon worms, acorn worms and opal worms.

Using the microscope to study urchin external anatomy.

Can you identify all the parts?

Testing to see if size affects the flipping rate of sea urchins.

Getting a tour of some of the research at the Huntsman.

The students got to see fish being pit tagged.

Making t-shirts.

Final experiments were testing tube feet strength or sea star flipping rates.

Releasing all the animals.

As we say goodbye to this group we look forward to the upcoming field courses, Introduction to Marine Mammals & Seabirds for teens 15-18 years old and All Things Marine for families.