Intro to Marine Bio 2019

This week on campus we had high school students, representing six provinces, attend our Introduction to Marine Biology field course. Below are a few photos from their week exploring the local marine environment.

Collecting live benthic specimens while on the research vessel, the Fundy Spray.

Using the salinometer to gather data on the salinity & temperature of the bay.

Found a sculpin in the drag.

Back in the lab identifying the plankton collected from the bay.

Phytoplankton & zooplankton at 100x magnified.

There were many copepods in the sample but also a number of polychaetes (worms).

Unfortunately, we also saw microplastics in our plankton sample.

Exploring the intertidal zone at low tide.

Sea stars and urchins!

Soft-shell clams

Studying the external anatomy of sea urchins.

View through the microscope of the spines and pedicellariae (pincers).

Does the size of the echinoderm (sea star or urchin) affect the time it takes to flip right-side-up?

Touring the collection of North Atlantic species at the ARC.

The ARC houses many deep sea specimens, including the dragon fish.

Gathering data on the invasive green crabs.

Only supposed to have 5 arms...hmmm?

Studying sponges with Dr. Claire Goodwin, the head of the ARC and a research scientist.

Sponge spicules.

Does temperature affect the feeding rate of barnacles?

The students were able to develop experiments of their own on the last day. These students tested the strength of urchins. The strongest held 16x its own weight.

These students tested to see if temperature affected the flipping rate of sea stars.

We wish all the students safe travels! Perhaps we will see you again in the future.