Week 9 and I wish I had more time. The sea tables are dry, the chitons are free, and finally I don’t have at least one pair of socks soaked in seawater. This week I finished releasing my chitons with the help of Alondra and Nicole. We went out to Lighthouse Beach, North Cove, and South Cove. Putting the chitons back made me realize how well I had learned their specific habitat. I could look at a rock and think to myself, there are probably some chitons (C. dentienshere), lift a couple blades of algae and find several clinging to the rock. I guess you develop a knack for finding chitons when you’ve collected somewhere north of 200 of them! It was nice to enjoy the intertidal one last time before leaving for school in land locked Philadelphia. It has been neat to see the intertidal here and compare it to the intertidal near my hometown in Southern California. Seeing the differences in species and how species rich Oregon is has been so much fun. I think my favorite animal to have learned about (outside of chitons and echinoderms) in the intertidal here has been nermerteans (non-segmented worms, figure 1). I had never considered that worms would exist in the rocky intertidal but now I see them everywhere thanks to my fellow REUs Rebecca and Jacob (check out their blogs to learn more about these wicked-cool worms). I’m excited to see if I can find them in the places I go in Southern California this winter break. And so, as we face the final curtain, posters printed, and the final poster presentation (at the time of writing) inching closer I bid adieu and give thanks to Richard, Nicole, Maya, my lab mates (Alondra and Nick), and all the other REUs who made this summer memorable. And for you, the reader, I’m leaving you with pictures of many of the cool invertebrates I found this summer, enjoy and thanks for tuning in!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a rising fourth year at Villanova University in Pennsylvania from San Diego, California. I enjoy going tidepooling and making music. I'm looking forward to a great summer at OIMB! Archives
August 2021
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly