Field Trip

By Julio Gonzalez

         We went to the Seattle Aquarium on Wednesday, February 28. We were there from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. I chose to go to the aquarium because I had never been and I always wondered what it was like. We looked through the multiple exhibits that the aquarium had. We were able to touch the different organisms in the "Life on the Edge" exhibit.

"Life on the Ridge"

California Sea cucumber

       The "Life in the Ridge" was fascinating because we were able to touch sea stars, anemones, and worms. We also learned how different sea life are able to resist wave action and how they ate. One of the organisms that I found interesting was the California Sea cucumber. This is because I have never seen one like this and it was cool to get a chance to touch them. I thought that their skin would have been rough because they had these spikes on them, but they were actually smooth. They also have tubed feet that allows them to move around. The sea cucumbers avoids places where there is a lot of wave action, which usually means staying at the bottom of the water. For example, the sea cucumber in the picture is at the bottom of the exhibit. They are also at the bottom because they feed on decaying plants (deposit feeders). One of the naturalist told us that they have the kids touch sea cucumber poop and make them guess what it is before revealing that its just poop, so I thought that was funny.

Calcareous tubeworm after being startled
and sucking in its featherlike structure.

             Another organism that was in the exhibit pool was the Calcareous tubeworm. They came with the water pumped into the aquarium as plankton, then they grew in the pool. They are filter feeders, so they have these feather like tentacles that flow in the water catching plankton to feed on. If it senses any danger it sucks in its feathery tentacles. When the tubeworms settle on a place they stays there permanently, so it doesn't move when there is heavy wave action. This characteristic can be found in other organisms in the tide pool for example this sticking to a place feature can be seen in Chiton and plumose anemones. Tubeworms and plumose anemones have similar feeding ways. Plumose anemones also attach to a surface and uses their tentacles to catch and feed. Chitons are mollusk that also cling to rocks, which allows it to avoid the wave action. I touched the chiton and it had a hard back. The chiton can look like part of the surface because it is attached to it very hard. One of the things they feed on is algae, so they move around with their one foot and look for algae.




Different color plumose anemones: the orange one
is closed up in this picture so its feathers are not shown.

Chiton can be seen in the center of the picture and
 its hard to see it because it is blends in with the surface.
You can also see a hermit crab in the picture.








                                                                

"Birds and Shores"                                        

           What I found interesting about this exhibit was that it was outside, but they still had heating lamps for the birds. It was cold that day, so the birds were under the lamps. The first bird that I saw in the exhibit was the Black Oystercatcher. These birds hang around the low tide and look for mollusk like chiton. I did mention above that chiton attach to the surface really hard, so the Black Oystercatcher has a long orange beak that allows it to separate the chiton from the ground. The Black Oystercatcher and other birds that live in the shores of Puget Sound use the rocks or cliffs to build their nest. One of the birds that I was trying to take a picture of but couldn't were the Tufted puffin. They kept on moving around especially when they are swimming. Tufted puffins are categorized as diving birds and one of the biggest threat to diving birds is plastic. So, make sure that you are recycling.

Salmon that were swimming in circles

"Salmon in our Watershed"  

          I thought that the salmon exhibit was kind of small. But, since it is just salmon in the exhibit, there really isn't a need for it to be any bigger. The tanks that they have in that area also have a lot of small salmon. I learned that Kokanee salmon can grow to an average size of 12 inches and that they are terminal breeders. I also learned that salmon change colors when they are in freshwater and are on their way to breeding grounds. Something that we can do to help the pacific salmon is recycling because plastic makes its way to the water. Household chemicals can also end up in the water ways, so try to dispose those properly.

Reflection

Sleeping otter can be seen near
 the center of the picture

Jellyfish

      

I really liked the aquarium because we were able to see and touch different phylum that we learned about in lab and in class. We can also see the similarities between the organisms of different phyla. For example, Plumose anemone (cnidarian) and calcareous tubeworm (annelid) both have the same eating strategy (suspension feeders). It is one thing to see a preserved organism in lab and another in their habitat like the tide pool. Even though aren't in their natural habitat, the aquarium does its best to keep them comfortable and we are able to see how they interact with each other. Since it was my first time at the aquarium, I was just taking picture of everything. The most interesting thing that I learned were the tubeworms and how they suck their feathery structures in their tube after putting your hand near it.

Grunt Sculpin fish

Fur Seal being fed