Visit to the sea biscuit graveyard

Today on Friday May 30, 2014 we started out with a French toast breakfast before heading across the street to Queens Highway in order to study the local plants. We divided up into groups to try and identify as many new plants as possible and then regrouped to discuss what we found. Some of the plants we discovered included woolly corchorus, wild sage, and common ernodea.  Afterwards we headed out of the heat back to the air-conditioned classroom and worked on our graphs for the previous day’s transects. When our low tech graphs were completed with some good old fashioned coloring we arranged them on the wall to identify trends in the organisms of the rocky intertidal zone.

Next we headed on out to one of the best lunches we’ve had yet, which consisted of chicken sandwiches and potato salad.  For the next part of our day we returned to Snapshot but this time, explored the shallows instead of the reef. On our first visit we passed over the shallows on our way to the reef and missed most of its interesting inhabitants. The shallows serve as a protected area for many juvenile fish and other smaller organisms. This area also had more wave action than many of our previous snorkels. This fact was reflected in the soft algae present as well as the many clumps of fire coral which require more wave action in order to filter feed. Some of the interesting organisms we encountered were a common octopus, spotted moray, cleaner shrimp, and numerous toxic Diadema, also known as the long-spined urchin. Another item commonly encountered in the shallows were the hollowed tests of sea biscuits. These tests were so prevalent that we began collecting them and formed a pile on the beach. Several students grabbed a couple to take home while the rest were thrown and shattered on the rocks where their remains will contribute to the sand.

We returned to a dinner of beef tips in rice and after filling our stomachs finished the evening with class. In class we discussed biodiversity within communities and calculated diversity using the Shannon-Winer Index. After a week and a half of hard work our teachers graciously provided us with craft materials of beads and twine in order to de-stress during our free periods. At this point in our trip we are almost halfway through and looking forward to what yet awaits us.

- Ginny Kotlinski ’16, Tyler Thacker ‘15

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