Category Archives: ER Warden Report

Cucumaria pseudocurata The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Description
Cucumaria pseudocurata is a small species with a length averaging between 1.5cm and 3cm. Their dorsal side ranges from brownish black to light brown to yellowish gray, while the ventral side varies from brown to white. Five bands of tube feet can be found in single or zig-zag rows, with the three ventral rows being more robust. C. pseudocurata has 8 equal-sized tentacles, and 2 smaller ventral ones. The tips of the tentacles generally have the darkest pigment. Between two of the dorsal tentacles can be found the genital papilla. The skin ossicles of this particular species are typically oval perforated plates.

This small cucumber can be found intertidally among the Mytillus Californianus (mussel beds) on the Western side of the main island.
See also the Black Brooding Sea cucumber, one of similar size but a darker color and a subtidal habitat

The book Sea Cucumbers of British Columbia, Southeast Alaska, and Puget Sound by Phil Lambert is the best source for identification of most of the 45 species of local sea cucumbers. In it he notes that the habitat of Cucumaria pseudocurata in the Juan de Fuca Strait tends to be ” This page has a copy of the reference to this species and others:
See also Taxing Problems by Philip Lambert – Now Curator Emeritus of Invertebrates, Royal BC Museum for a description of the difficulty in classification and the need to classify by the skin ossicles.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Echinodermata
Class Holothuroidea
Order Dendrochirotida
Family Cucumariidae
Sub Family Cucumariinae
Genus Cucumaria
Species pseudocurata
Common Name: Tar-Spot Sea Cucumber

 

Other Members of the Phylum Echinodermata at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 December 2002 Erin Schwenger (PC year 29)  Rahilla (PC)

Hippasteria spinosa:The Spiny Sea star–The Race Rocks taxonomy

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Spiny Stars are rarely seen by divers at Race Rocks. Ryan demonstrates one to the Colwood Elementary a school class

Description:

The Hippasteria spinosa is an uncommon, 5 armed, aboral surfaced sea star. Its most marginal plates have 2 spines and it has some conspicuous bivalved pedicellariae.

Its colour is orange to vermillion, which intensifies at the short, stalky arms (R/r=1.7 to 2.6) and becomes whiter near the mouth. Usually in the subtidal region at depths of 100 to 500 metres, it can sometimes be found on the beach. It is characterized by having all its plates covered with granules, giving it a spiny, STELLATE look.The mouth has 4 or 5 marginal spines and a slightly wider than high mouth (elipsis shape).

Habitat and region

Can be found from Kodiak Island to Southern of California and the Sea of Okhotsk and is more common around the west coast of Vancouver Island and other exposed coastal parts. It prefers muddy, shallow environments and can also be found in shell and rock.

References:
Taxonomy: Marine Invertebrates of the Pacific Northwest; Kozloff, Eugene, University of Washington Press, 1996 Edition, USA

 

Phascolosoma agassizii: Peanut worms–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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This video was made when the diivers collected specimens underwater at Beecher Bay and then when the peanut worms were being used for a lab in the classroom.

Sipunculans, normally called peanut worms are sea animals which live under the rocks and in tight crevices between rocks, especially where is muddy or sand accumulated. They feed on detritus and microscopic organisms. They collect these with the tentacles placed encircling their mouth. They are particularly abundant in Beecher Bay, and also occur in the intertidal, under mussels on the shoreline.Peanut worms are bilaterally symmetrical and unsegmented. The body is divided into two not very distinguished regions. A mobile anterior body section called introvert which can be retracted into the body by a special set of muscles called retractor muscles and a posterior part. At the anterior tip of the body is the mouth surrounded by tentacles. These are usually bushy but sometimes inconspicuous and unbranched. The body cavity, called a coelom, is filled with fluid. Because of this the sipunculans have no respiratory or circulatory system. The coelomic fluid takes care of this functions by transporting both, nutrients and oxygen. In this fluid can also be found free floating cells , hemerytrocytes, and free floating clusters of cells known as ciliary urns. Because the digestive tracts of sipunculans are almost U shaped, the intestine forms a twisted loop, with the anus on the side of the body. Peanut worms are really firm due to to their strong, muscular body wall. Its firmness it’s also increased by the high hydrostatic pressure inside the coelom.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Sipuncula
Class Phascolosomatidae
Order Phascolosomatida
Family Phascollosomatidae
Genus Phascolosoma
Species agassizii (Henri Marie Ducrotay de Blainville, 1827)
Common Name:Peanut worm

The length of a large Peanut worm, when stretched out, is about 6 or 7 cm. The posterior part of the body is basically paler or greenish paler while the introvert anterior section is basically paler but with a number of black lines and blotches.

There is some sipuncula fossil evidence proving their existence at least in the Paleozoic. A group of shells called hyoliths were found in rocks through much of the Paleozoic. These hyoliths are conical shells bearing a hinged operculum covering the opening. These shells seem to resemble molluscan shells. However, some trace of intestine has been found in a few hyoliths fossils. This intestine resembles a lot to living sipunculans as it’s looped and coiled. This is more evident as a few living sipunculans secrete calcified cuticular plate, the anal shield. So it is not impossible that past relatives of the sipunculans secreted more extensive shells.

References:

Seashore life of the Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Juan Archipelago-Eugene N. Kozloff (1996)

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/dees/ees/life/slides/phyla/sipuncula.html

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/sipuncula/sipuncula.html

Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

Dec. 2002-Ramiro Nandez (PC yr29)

Myxicola infundibulum: jelly tube worm– The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Ryan took this underater picture in April of 2009. It captures the transparency well.

Myxicola infundibulum , a slime tube worm is one of the Polychaetes in the Phylum Annelida. It is fairly common among the vast array of other invertebrates living subtidally at Race Rocks.

 

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order sabellida
Family sabellide
Genus Myxicola
Species infundibulum
Common Name: jelly tube worm

 

Other Members of the Phylum Annelida at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 December, 2002-  Ryan MurphyPC)

Balanus nubilus:Giant barnacle–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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The video  is of a juvenile barnacle feeding. It was taken by Sylvia Roach through a microscope camera in the marine lab at Pearson College. The size of the barnacle can be estimated by the small skeleton shrimp which is active in the background. That amphipod is less than 1 cm in length.
Research on the associations of hydroids that live on them has been done at Race Rocks by Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss. In her publication on the new species Rhysia fletcheri she has included a photograph of hydroids on the valves of this animal.

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class:Crustacea
Subclass: Cirripedia
Order: Thoracica
Suborder: Balanomorpha
Superfamily: Balanoidea
Family: Balanidae
Genus: Balanus
Species nubilus

Common Name: Giant Barnacle

Giant barnacles are commonly found on rocks, pier pilings, and hard-shelled animals in low tidal zones to 90 meters depth.

They are up to 110 mm in diameter and are not easily confused with any other species. A feature unique to the giant barnacle is the lack of longitudinal striation on the scuta. They also contain the largest individual muscle fibres known to science.

 There has also been an extended essay done on this association by a student from the college. They are often encrusted with the holdfasts of kelp. Occasionally a storm tearing at the kelp will uproot a mass of barnacles and they may end up on a beach in the masses of tangled kelp. One of the reasons we have a ban on anchoring in the reserve is that these barnacles are easily broken away from their locations on rock outcrops by a dragging anchor.

Barnacles are not usually parasites, but the weight of this one could eventually impact negatively on the mussel.

Other Members of the Phylum Arthropoda at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.

 March October 2003- Aven Crawshay (PC)

Race Rocks Digital Herbarium–Archival reference

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Race Rocks Digital Herbarium

This Digital Herbarium was created by Ryan M.J. Murphy after his stay at the Race Rocks Marine Protected Area, in British Columbia.  This digital collection features images of over 40 species of marine algae found within the MPA, links to online Quicktime movies, a glossary, and classification information.  Not all species are identified. For these and other Macroalgae species, now see the Race Rocks Taxonomy.

The contents of this project have now been moved to the Race Rocks Taxonomy

Site Information

Race Rocks

Race Rocks in an archipelago situated at 48o17’45”N, 123o31’50”W, south of Vancouver Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  A tidal range that exceeds 3m yields a large intertidal community that is constantly battered by large waves and subject to currents up to 6 knots.  The islands are surrounded by forests of Nereocystis luetkeana in the summer months, under which a highly developed subtidal community exists.

Study Features

Ryan Murphy used digital video equipment from Lester B. Pearson College and an hp digital camera to record the materials presented in this herbarium.  As Race Rocks is a Marine Protected Area, no live samples could be taken, thus necessitating this digital collection.  The author hopes that the benefits of this collection far outweigh the benefits of having brittle preserved samples stored away from public use.

Images and video were collected in the summer of 2002 with the help of Pearson College student Joe Downham.  Identification was completed by Ryan, Anne K. Salomon of the University of Washington, and Garry Fletcher of L.B. Pearson College.

Funding was provided to this project by the Leadership Mount Allison Academic Initiative.

Management

Race Rocks was declared a Marine Protected Area designate in October 2000.  It has been managed by Lester B. Pearson College since 1997.

Favourite Links

   https://www.racerocks.ca

   http://www.mta.ca/~iehrman/jalgaeholics/volume1number1.htm ( now not available)

   http://www.mbari.org

   http://www.algaebase.org

Contact Information

Ryan Murphy:

Garry Fletcher:

Project Supported By

   Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific

Leadership Mount Allison

Dr. Irena Kaczmarska-Ehrmann

Anne K. Salomon

Garry Fletcher

 Joe Downham

Bibliography

Scagel, Robert F. (1972)  Guide to Common Seaweeds of British Columbia.  K.M. MacDonald Printing, British Columbia.

Students produce Video of work at Race Rocks in three languages

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In the first week of November, 2002, three first year students from Pearson College stayed at Race Rocks for their project week. Rosie, from Great Britain, Jeremias from Austria and Ahmad from Egypt were successful in producing several videos while on the island. One of the projects was to produce a video that introduced virtual guests to the island. They have produced this video in three languages :

Arabic version

German version

English version

 

OTHER VIDEOS DONE IN THIS PROJECT WEEK:

Sea pen: Ptilosarcus gurneyi-The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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(Ed Note: The scientific name at the start of the video is not correct.) The sea pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi, is a colonial cnidarian in the same class as the anemone, the anthozoa. One polyp has been modified to form the body,  while the fringes of the “feather” contain numerous small feeding polyps. Typically we find it living in a mud/sand substrate. It is rare around Race Rocks. The only population we have found is this one with a few individuals occurring at 15 metres on the North-West corner of Great Race Island. Note the small burrowing tubeworms in the mud around the organism. This specimen was videoed by Wynne Lawrence and Jean-Olivier Dalphond, both students at the Lester B. Pearson College.

General Description:

The sea pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi, is a colonial cnidaria in the same class as the anemone, the anthozoa. One polyp has been modified to form the body while the fringes of the “feather” contain numerous small feeding polyps.

Habital:

Sea pens are marine organisms: typically they are found living in a mud/sand substrate at least 3 inches (7.6 cm) deep. It is rare around Race Rocks, with a few individuals occuring on the North-West corner of Great Race Island. Note the small burrowing tubeworms in the mud around the organism.

Feeding:

The polyps feed on detritus, zooplankton (baby artemia), and possibly (according to The Reef Aquarium Vol. Two) phytoplankton.You should offer your Sea Pen Artemia nauplii, Daphnia, pulverized flake food, and detritus stirred up from the bottom of the tank.

Predator:

Predators of the sea pen are two nudibranchs, one the very large 3 inches(7cm) nudibranch, Armina californica and the other Mediaster aequalis, Rose Star Crossaster papposus and the Leather Star Dermasterras imbriacata.

Reproduction:

We don’t know the reproduction of sea pens whether by sexual or asexual means.

References:
http://www.fishroom.com/library/seapen.html
http://www.lanecc.edu/science/zonation/seapen.htm

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Subclass: Octocorallia
Order: Pennatulacea Verrill, 1865
Suborder :Subsessiliflorae
Family :Pennatulidae Ehrenberg, 1834
Genus:Ptilosarcus
species:gurneyi
(Ptilosarcus gurneyi)
Common name: orange sea pen

Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image Gallery

Other Members of the Class Anthozoa at Race Rocks.

 

taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. 

Original: Dec 2002, Joshua Columbus ( Burma) year PC yr 29).  

additions by G.Fletcher 2018

 

Sea Duck Conference attendees to Race Rocks

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‘This morning after the students returned to Pearson College, Garry and Mark took out fourteen international visitors from a conference on Sea Ducks in Victoria. They were particularly impressed by the assortment of bird life on the way out, Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Double- Crested Cormorants, and Bonaparte”s Gulls were common, Rhinocerous Auklets and a flock of , 6 Ancient Murrelets as well as several flocks of Marbled Murrelets -20+) were an added bonus. A few Western Grebes were also in the Pedder Bay region. Double Crested Cormorants, Western and Thayer”s gulls were the most common around Race Rocks, with a few juvenile Glaucous winged gulls mixed in. ‘, ‘Garry Fletcher’, ’22:05:42 ,

Tidal Cycle at Race Rocks Video

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 This clip was produced on 8.11.2002. As Race Rocks Marine Protected Area is a place where large (3 meter) tidal range occurs, it is a good location to observe the raising and lowering of the water . A rock in Race Passage near the West shore of Great Race Rock was chosen and a camera was installed in front of the window of the research room in the Marine Science Centre. Video clips were taken for 15 seconds every hour of daylight, high tide occurred during noontime. The second part of the clip shows the tide going in fast motion, a day at the rock passes in 25 seconds.” Jeremias Prassti, ( PC yr 28)

From Victoria Tide tables for this date.. 8.11.2002. :

time… tidal height (ft)………….(meters)
0910 …………………..8.9……………..2.7
1100………………….. 8.5……………..2.6
1445………………….. 9.2……………..2.8
2345………………….. 1.0………………0.3

PROJECT IDEA:
1. On graph paper, using the data above, plot the tidal variation for the day. Then pause the video on each of the levels, measure the height of an exposed piece of the rock and then plot it on the graph. In this way you should be able to determine the elevation of the top of the rock.

2. Link to the physical factor page for Race Rocks – Go to the Tidal calculator links available and compare the shape of the graph for November 8, 2002 with the graph you have made here