“Marine Biology” – Florida Keys

January 14, 2009

This morning we woke to overcast skies and blowing winds.

That meant that getting back into the water after the morning exam for some more snorkeling was pretty much out of the question. Dr. Carrier used the time to get the class caught up on background information about marine vertebrates and have some students present their species reports.

This afternoon, due to the particular phase of the moon, the low tide was much lower than usual. We used this chance to get out to the tide pools, those small bodies of water left behind when the tidal waters retreat. This time, we were looking at the inhabitants of the tide pools and not water chemistry. We were focusing not just on the normal inhabitants of the pools, but also species that were stranded there.

Jenn Lammers, Mikki Burger and Lauren Keck check out one of the tide pools. Notice the difference in the attire today versus Day 1 of Marine Biology in the Keys!

Melanie Kapolka and Dr. Carrier found some golf ball coral in tide pools close to the water.

Mary Applegate looks at the algae encrusting the rocks.

Sarah Schmoke shows off the small crab she found.

Richard Frenchi and Andrew Bagby investigated many of the pools with their “poking stick.”

Tim Cameron found a small conch in one tide pool.

Alyssa Porada shows off an angry stone crab on her finger.

Dr. Carrier displays an Aplysia – a common sea hare – to Tim Cameron, Mark Kluk, Sarah Schmoke and Katie Waudby. The nudibranchs are commonly called sea slugs. They have lost their shells and are typically very colorful. When irritated, nudibranchs often release a red/purple dye, similar to squid. As much as we tried, this guy wouldn’t oblige. This critter was an example of the exceptional low tide’s ability to trap organisms that would otherwise not choose this stressful environment. We set the animal back into deeper water and sent this snail “scurrying” for friendly confines!

Dr. Carrier compares the size of the operculum of the bleeding tooth snail (the little thing in his fingers) to that of the one that Angie Johnston found, probably from a huge horse conch, while Laura Niesen looks on. The operculum is a horny plate that mollusks use to seal themselves in their shells during low tide or to protect themselves from predators.

After dinner, it was back to the classroom to talk about avian species and to finish up students’ species reports. Tomorrow, we are hoping to get out on the water one last time before the end of the course, but we’ll have to wait to see how the weather is cooperating!

**Disclaimer** Any mistakes made in this post are the fault of a chemist, not any biologist on this trip!