Ottawa Catholic Schools 2018

Last week on campus we welcomed students from three high schools within the Ottawa Catholic School Board: Immaculata, St. Francis Xavier and St. Mark. Here are a few pictures from their week of marine biology in St. Andrews and on Grand Manan Island.

Studying freshly collected plankton through the microscope.

Plankton collected with nets that have different size mesh.

Phytoplankton at 40x magnification.

A copepod at 40x magnification.

Touring Ministers Island.

This was the summer estate of Sir William Van Horne built in the 1890s. Van Horne was instrumental in the completion of the railway across Canada.

Touring the newly restored barn on the island.

Exploring the intertidal zone on Ministers Island. Van Horne's beautiful bathhouse is in the background.

The animals are hiding under the rocks waiting for the tide to return.

sea star

burrowing anemone

Back in the lab identifying the animals that we collected.

Spiny sunstar. How many arms do you count?

Learning about lobsters.

Checking to see if it is male or female.

Using the microscopes to study the external anatomy of sea urchins.

View of the madreporite and anus of an urchin.

Atlantic white-sided dolphin seen while whale watching from Grand Manan.

The dolphins have a very distinct dorsal fin shape.

Puffins

Fin whale

Behaviour experiments: How does size affect the flipping rate of sea stars?

How does size affect the flipping rate of sea urchins?

Gathering arthropods to test the reaction to light.

Does temperature affect the feeding rate of barnacles?

Testing the strength of different echinoderms, including blood stars.