German Group

For the next couple of days we have a group of university students and professors from Germany staying on campus and touring the St. Andrews area.  They are here in the Maritimes doing an excursion as part of their studies.  

Today the group toured different parts of the Huntsman, including the aquarium and the ARC (Atlantic Reference Centre), and also went out with me on our research vessel, the Fundy Spray.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water and sample the marine environment.  While onboard the boat we collected plankton, conducted a scallop drag, checked out the seals hanging around the herring weir, and slipped through St. Andrews Harbour to get a view of town from the water.  Our scallop drag samples were pretty diverse with both groups collecting sea stars, urchins, sea cucumbers, scallops, sea peaches, sponges, and crabs.  The second group also brought up from the bottom a ‘beautiful’ worm called a sea mouse!    

To finish off the afternoon the group was touring the St. Andrews Biological Station (the neighbouring research station for the Canadian government) and then heading into town for a lovely meal.

Glad to meet you all today!  Safe travels for the rest of your trip!   

Our captain dumping the scallop drag.

Getting their hands dirty sorting through the collection!

Sea stars

Sea urchins

The top of the herring weir.

Towing the plankton nets.

Zooplankton and phytoplankton.

Shark Week Interactive Exhibit

Our interactive exhibit at the aquarium this week is all about sharks!  Have fun digging for shark teeth, check out the shark jaws on display, pickup some children’s activity sheets, and view the life size shark silhouettes up around the aquarium.  Tomorrow we plan to have two new children’s games also, pin the tail on the thresher shark and shark lunch!

How many shark teeth can you find?

Check out the size of that shark!

We have a number of cool shark items on display.

Seabird Week Interactive Exhibit

Our interactive exhibit at the aquarium this week is all about seabirds.  Make a seabird at the kids activity table, check out the shearwater migration display, view the amazing bird specimens, watch two great bird movies in the Dunn Science Theatre, and take home a free seabird ID card (great if you are going whale watching!). 

View 15 species of birds that frequent the Bay.

Shearwater migration display...now that is some frequent flyer miles!

Beautiful puffin

All Things Marine – Day 3

Today the group looked at marine organisms through different scopes, the first being art and the second being cooking.  Throughout the day the group worked with Barb to tap into their inner artists.  They created some beautifully colourful pieces for a mural that will be posted in the aquarium.  It is amazing what you can create when you try!  Then in the afternoon the long awaited cooking class took place.  Amid some laughs the group prepped some periwinkles, sea cucumbers and scallops to add to the meal for the evening.  We will see at supper who is feeling adventurous!  But just in case I think the ladies in the kitchen are making ‘regular’ food for supper!

This evening the group is free to explore St. Andrews.  Hopefully, they will leave it all in one piece!            

The toad crab posed pretty well...for a little while!

De-shelled periwinkles ready for supper!

Sea cucumber ready to be cooked...yum!?

From day 2: a blood worm shooting out its proboscis

(the 4 teeth are found on the end of the proboscis).

All Things Marine – Day 2

Yesterday morning our excited group of teachers and adults boarded the Fundy Spray in search of what lives beyond the intertidal zone.  We headed out of Passamaquoddy Bay in search of marine mammals and found approximately 30 harbour and grey seals lounging on the ledges.  Some of them were quite active, jumping out of the water and putting on a little show for us.  Unfortunately, because of the fog we didn’t get to head out further in search of even larger animals but that is life in the Bay of Fundy, you are at the mercy of the weather!  Also, while on board we did a plankton tow and two scallop drags to collect animals to study in the lab.  We found a great diversity of species using the scallop drag, including two very soft lobsters that must have just moulted.  The group was a bit upset we couldn’t bring the lobsters back for their cooking class but we did bring back sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and scallops…a fair trade?!

In the afternoon the group met in the lab to get a closer look at the animals they collected Monday at Indian Point and while on the boat.  They had lots of fun viewing everything through the microscopes and learning about animals they had never heard of before such as sea spiders, terebellid worms and bryozoans. 

Later in the afternoon we donned our rubber boots and took buckets and shovels to the muddy shore in search of marine worms.  Tracey did a quick introduction with the group and warned them that a couple of the worms can bite.  As luck would have it the first worm of the day was a blood worm which decided to have a taste of one of the teachers, who now has quite the story to take back to his students!  While on the beach did find a great diversity of animals, including bamboo worms, red-lined worms, milky ribbon worms, soft-shelled clams, and moon snails.  One of the coolest finds was a huge moon snail collar, which contains the eggs one very large moon snail!

After a great roasted chicken supper (which included stuffing and gravy…yum!) the group met me in the aquarium lab to check out their plankton sample from earlier in the day.  They found an amazing selection of diatoms, dinoflagellates, copepods, and even some Podon sp.  It was a great comparison for the teachers who are used to working with freshwater plankton species. 

Below are some pictures from our awesome day. 

Zooplankton and phytoplankton samples.

Our captain dumping the scallop drag.

Sorting through the collection from the scallop drag.

Soft lobster.

Tiny urchins.

Checking out the beautiful terebellid worm.

Digging for worms!

Look at the size of that moon collar...huge!

Biology teachers in their glory!  Studying the plankton samples.