Blog Post #7: Shannon Point Field Trip

     The field trip to Shannon Point was easily one of my favorites in this class. I loved the scenery and coastal location of the lab (not to mention the enormous windows to look out of), and it was great to finally have a more hands-on education on marine ecology.

     The most interesting thing I learned about marine ecosystems would have to be how sea anemones can entirely change color based on the type of plankton that is native to the area or climate. Also, I thought it was cool to see how more "green" anemones are native to the North Pacific, while brown anemones are native to the more southern coast of the US and Mexico.

     Nate's talk on scientific diving was also fascinating. I never knew how complicated achieving the title of "scientific diver" was, and I learned a ton about the history of diving, which was fairly unknown to me before this trip. I was really interested in the art movement boom of underwater photography personally, especially because it came about fairly long after the necessary photography equipment was available!

     One of the most exciting parts of the trip for me was actually finding a species of plankton under a microscope. I couldn't quite ID it myself, but it's body was very transparent, which allowed me to see many tiny egg's in the mother's abdomen, all with little red organs similar to their mother. It was so thrilling to finally catch an organism under the glass, but was quite difficult to actually isolate it enough to stop jumping around out of the view of my lens

Shannon Point Marine Center

The field trip to Shannon Point was very interesting and fun! The drive up to the center was neat and the surrounding area had a gorgeous view of all the islands. All of the different equipment they had for their diving and research was mind blowing, even that 10+ thousand dollar machine they used to mimic ocean levels was astonishing!

My favorite part was when we all looked at microscopic organisms through the microscopes, some guy got the little dudes from a nearby port. It was very interesting looking at all the tiny organisms and to watch how they all moved and squirmed around. Most of them were transparent so I could see their insides which was incredible! I'm pretty sure I saw intestines. 

Shannon Point Marine Center

Our field trip to Shannon Point was informative and a great experience to get to touch and feel many sea creatures that you do not find often unless at an aquarium. Unfortunately, we were unable to go out on the boat which is what I was most excited about but nonetheless it still captivating and interesting to see what kind of research is going on at the marine center. Such as the symbiosis of an single celled algae and a sea anemones.

My favorite part of the field trip was looking at organisms in seawater under a microscope. It was incredible to see such a huge diversity of organisms in a very small amount of sea water. When taken in perspective, this gives you an idea of just how rich life is in our seas of Western Washington. I was able to take pictures using my phone looking through the microscope. Isolating one very fast copepod in a single drop of water was quite fascinating. It spun around the edge of the droplet very rapidly, for how small it is it, they move incredibly fast.

Shannon point!!!

    Shannon point was an absolutely gorgeous and captivating site to have a field trip. I learned about the mutualistic relationship between sea anemone and algae that causes a green pigmentation to the anemone. This symbiotic functionality is specific to the West Coast. We also learned about the career paths available to scientific divers and the qualifications to be granted such a title.  I would love it but I've looked into The Divers Institute and I do not qualify :( .
      While traipsing through the grounds of Shannon Point, completely unencumbered and carefree, I was  captivated by the majestic beauty surrounding me. As I skipped along the proverbial yellow brick road, a strange looking mushroom crossed my path.  "Aha!" I said to myself.  This is what I've been coveting, though I hadn't even known I had been searching for anything in the least.  It appears to be a False  Morel mushroom. Can I be sure? No, no I cannot, as I am at the mercy of Google Images. However, the "melting" characteristics and the dark color and nooks upon the surface of the mushroom give me some hope that my identification is correct. Also, it looks like a brain. My brain told me, "Dana, stay back!" But alas, I could not, I reached down and stroked the mushroom. I then freaked out and went to the bathroom and washed my hands. The end.

False Morel mushrooms are the counterpart to the Black Morel, which is highly coveted and edible. The False Morel is considered dangerous to eat. The Black Morel has a hollow inside, and the cap is generally longer than the stem. Alternatively, the False Morel is not hollow inside and has a more lopesided shape. The real Black Morel is shaped like a tear drop. However I'm still not convinced that this mushroom is either, just a layman's best guess so if anyone has any ideas, please comment!
     

Shannon Point

This last week I visited the Shannon Point Marine Center in Anacortes. I think the most interesting thing I learned about was both the immense smuggling operation of abalone that happened here, rendering them functionally extinct until assisted restoration and about the diving jobs that are available to Fish & Wildlife crews. A cool observation worth noting was the nematocysts found in the crushed sample from the anemone's arm. It was cool seeing up close under extreme magnification what it was that stings you when you touch an organism such as a jellyfish that has a whole bunch of these tiny things packed with strong venom.


The class also got to learn about the ongoing study of the mutualism between unicellular alga such as the dinoflagellates and the cnidarians like the sea anemone. They share a slightly similar relationship to that of Mycorrhizae and plants. The dinoflagellate provides the host with photosynthetically fixed carbon while the host gives the alga protection from predators and provides nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and sulfur.

The lecture at the end about the history of scientific diving was pretty interesting as well. I didn't realize that by loose definition, underwater exploration has its origins all the way back to Alexander the Great around 330 BC!

spacecollective.org

Special Thanks to Nate & Dean and Gwen