Monday, 26 November 2012

Aquarium trip!

Thursday, our class ventured to the Vancouver aquarium, we had a fun hands on experience! In the morning we arrived and kicked off our day with a wet lab in which we were able to get up close, and feel many of the aquatic specimens. In this wet lab we encountered the phylum Cnidaria. while we didn't feel the motile Medusa we did touch Polyp types. Luckily they had fairly weak nematocysts and were unable to harm us. The barbed needles made the tentacles feel almost sticky, however once we rubbed our fingers on the base, the cells were tricked into thinking we were apart of it, and wasn't triggered. We also held sea urchins, sea stars and loads of other engrossing aquatic creatures. I know, I personally loved this part of our day, we learned about the various roles and lives of the different marine life. After this we were switched to the experiment part of our marine lab, in this segment we completed experiments on snails. After a brainstorm involving our class, we decided upon attempting to see if snails had a sense of gravity. Quickly, it was made apparent that they did, however needed help to flip over, so they utilized a rock as leverage. After this was finished, we went and had lunch, then were free to explore the depths of the ocean in the aquarium.




1.) The symbiotic relation between sea anemones and clown fish is that the sea anemone keeps the fish safe from predator, while the clown fish provides food for the anemone. The reason the fish isnt stung is, it has similar cells to the anemone, and tricks it into thinking it is apart of the anemone.

2.) The reasons otters like this one clean themselves so often is that they need clean fur to catch airbubbles for insulation.

3.) Prior to the 1900's otters were often hunted so there numbers were very low however they were found in Alaska and California. Once people realized that these majestic creatures would become extinct if we continued to hunt them, so some were bred from Alaska and reintroduced.

4.) Green Anemones were found near the sea otters tank.

 5.) Out of all the fantasizing invertebrates I saw my favorite had to be the Water jellyfish. The reason being it used bioluminescence to light up the water and it looked gorgeous.
6.) There are 2 delphinapterus leucas staying in the aquarium or you could say beluga whales. 

7.) Apparently there are not potbelly seahorses currently residing in the aquarium however I did see some int interesting spotted seahorses which uses its tail to idly move.
8.)  The pacific sea nettle is similar to looks the human nervous system in a way. Its tentacles could possibly be the nerves in the body while its head could be the our head.  

9)The starry flounder has a rare adaption, unlike other its fairly flat, and able to swim side ways against the ocean floor slipping past predators the ocean floor. Its coloring also helps camouflage it on the sandy floor


10.) The moon jelly slowly floats through the water by almost contracting its head then releasing. Its method of feeding is similar as it contracts its head pushing water filled with microscopic organisms into its mouth.

11.) One of natures best predators the Pacific Octopus is considered this partially because its fantastic hiding ability. It also uses white suction cups found on its tentacles to grapple prey and stick to things like rocks allotting better camouflage. 


                                                                            

12.) Sea lions often hunt in groups and on these excursions they look for fish and squid.

13.) The Caiman is found in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.                                                        14.) The caimans colors most likely help it camouflage in its environment as its a brownish gray-green. 

15.) The largest fish in the aquarium is able to grow up to an astounding three feet in length this monster is called the Arapaima. 


16.)The red hook sliver dollar feeds off riverside shrubs in the amazon flooded forest.

17.) When people remove a hook in a captured piranhas mouth is when they pose the largest threat.

18.) A fun fact about sharks is that they actually don't have bones only cartilage.

19.) Green Sea Turle,Common Bluestripe Snapper, Blacktip Reef Shark, White Spotted Bamboo shark, Yellowface Angelfish, Stringray, Laced Moray, Redtail Butterfly fish, and the Indo-Pacific Sergeant are all organisms also found in the shark tank.

20.) The Strongylocentrotus Francisconus or giant red sea urchin has spikes surrounding its body to protect it from predators.
however it didn't stop this sea otter from eating it!!!
21.) Acherfish have a a unique hunting style they will actually shoot water out of their mouth and hit bugs making them fall into the water.
 


22.) The sea turtle in the tropic zone can also be identified as chelania mydas or as "Schoona". 




Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Fun Fungus Walk!

Throughout the last week our science class has been learning about Fungi.  So we would learn and understand the material better, our teacher took us on a walk in the park. On this walk we looked for the numerous types of fungi we have learned about. The five phyla are water molds(Oomycota), common molds (Zygomycota), Sac fungi (Ascomycota), club fungi (Basidiomycota) and Imperfect fungi (Deuteromycota). Luckily on our walk we found tons of mushrooms, and other molds just on the trails! Probably because our moist environment is favorable for many molds. We also found several lichens belonging to the different forms foliose (leaf like), Fruticose (shrubby), Crustose (crust like.) Also my partner and I found some captivating leaves with some sort of rust caused by fungi. Though we weren't able to find everything on the fungus hunt we did get to see quite a few intriguing things like the different symbiotic lichens, rusts and shelf mushrooms.
A rust caused by some sort of fungi
Foliose lichen
A Crustose Lichen has made its home on a shady tree base

shelf Fungi growing on wood
some basidiomycota fungi growing 
a close up of mushrooms growing on a log
in this picture the hyphae and mycelium weren't visible
A shelf fungi part of the club fungi phylum