Category Archives: Invertebrate

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

 

Orca sighted

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Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 14.1 ºC »» Min. 8.5 ºC »» Reset 11.8 ºC
MARINE LIFE: There are thousands of sea birds busy feeding in the many fish balls, a few inside the MPA but most of the action in about 1/2 to 1 mile past the boundaries. Many of the birds come into the reserve to rest ashore and in the kelp so there is a constant flow of birds back and forth. A small group of Orca were sighted southeast of Gr. Race travelling westsouthwest.1 Canada goose came ashore up over the rocks by the winch house causing a stampeed of sea lions. The gulls and other birds move among the sea lions all the time but for some reason, the goose rising up out of the water waving it’s neck and moving towards them was somewhat of a threat.The goose seems to have an injured left wing and moved into a protected area among some large boulders and except to pop it’s heard up every once in a while for a look around has stayed put all day. Cannot get close to the goose to assess it’s condition as any movement would disturb the 60 or so sea lions hauled out all along the shore.
HUMAN INTERACTION: There were 11 Eco tour boats and 7 pleasure craft through the reserve today.
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:25 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear »» Vis. 15 Miles »» Wind East 11 Knots »» Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:07 AM

Pollicipes polymerus: Goose-neck Barnacle- The Race Rocks taxonomy

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This low tide view on the south- west corner of Great Race shows the close competition between the California mussels and the goosenecks.
LOCATION:
The gooseneck barnacle, is found in abundance in the intertidal at Race Rocks. Globally. it is found from the southern region of Alaska to Baja, California. It is attached to rocks at the high intertidal zone and all organisms in a particular area will be oriented towards the same direction. It normally occurs on wave-beaten rocks. These barnacles have undergone extensive harvesting on the shorelines of the North Pacific, in particular around urban areas. Typically our record of conservation has been poor and continued harvesting results in very little stock recruitment and consequently a diminishing stock of this species. People of Western European origin frequently have a desire to eat this species, as it tastes very much like crab.

These clumps of gooseneck barnacles line the surge channel, if you see the video on the surge channel page , you can understand how they are exposed to a food source of plankton by the surge action even when they are above the tidal level. 

 

DESCRIPTION:

It has a fleshy stalk which attaches it to rocks or floating objects. The long neck is about up to 10cm. compared to the shell which is 5 cm. long. It has a leathery appearance with small bumps. The body consists of the peduncle and capitulum. The peduncle is the attachment organ but also contains ovaries and some muscles. It is covered with tiny ossicles on short fleshy stalk. the capitulum consists of most of the animal, including all appendages except the first antennae, The capitulum is ventral.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Class Cirripedia
Order Thoracica
Family Scalpellidae
Genus Pollicipes
Species polymerus
Common Name:Gooseneck Barnacle
–
REPRODUCTION AND FEEDING:

The organism is a hermaphrodite but they rarely undergo self fertilizaton. Cross fertilization is more common. Fertiliztion is external and it occurs in the mantle cavity. Gooseneck barnacles are filter feeders. They feed on smaller crustaceans and plankton. They do this by projecting their feathery feet called cirri to trap organisms. The cirri also act as lungs for gaseous exchange. Their main predators are the glaucous winged gull and the sea stars.

HISTORY:

Their name, gooseneck barnacle arose from the middle ages where they were thought to be developing geese which dropped off to become adult geese. As such geese were considered as fish and could be eaten on days meat was considered a taboo. Check out the patterns on the neck of the Brant Goose.

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.     October 2002- Garry Fletcher

Hydrocoral at Race Rocks and Alberto Lindner

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Alberto Lindner is studying the systematics and evolution of hydrocorals using morphological and molecular biology methods for his Ph.D. thesis. He visited Race Rocks in the summer of 2002. The occurrence of hydrocoral in the low intertidal zone is an unusual occurrence on the Pacific West Coast and Alberto is aiming to help us in the identification of the different colored clones of the animal. His supervisor and advisors are Dr. Stephen Cairns (Smithsonian) , Dr.Cliff Cunningham ( Duke University) and Dr. Dale Calder (Royal Ontario Museum) This is part of a program of training young zoologists in established and new methods of systematics Alberto comes from Brazil, having completed a Master’s degree in the University of São Paulo.

Alberto was introduced to us by Dr. Anita Brinkmann-Voss

See  Hydrocorals in The Race Rock Taxonomy

After returning to his lab and doing further analysis, Alberto reported that “It is pretty safe to say that the purple and pink color morphs of Stylaster corals (Allopora) from Race Rocks are the same species”. He has also noted the same result with deep-sea species from the Aleutians, as the orange and pink forms there do not separate the species.

Link to Alberto’s website.

Abietinaria amphora: Photomicrography of Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss

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The branching colony measures 1.0-1.5 cm in height, so microscopic pictures are necessary to show the details

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Hydrozoa
Order Leptothecata (=Leptomedusae)
Family Sertulariidae
Genus Abietinaria
Species amphora, Nutting 1904
Common Name:  ———–

This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by Lester B. Pearson College and local scientists. Copyrighted 1999-All Images on this page are the property of: Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss. They can not be used or modified without her written permission. April 2002

see this link for other hydroids:  https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/hydroid/

The purpose for his visit was to sample the hydrocoral Allopora

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Sunday, July 28, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 C  Min. 10.9  Reset 14.3 C
MARINE LIFE: 6 harbour seals haul out with pups at the boat ramp. Canadian geese still around.
HUMAN INTERACTION: 1 dive charter in the morning. Second Nature was out with Garry , Dr. Anita Voss and Alberto. Alberto is from Brazil and is currently doing a doctorate at Duke University. His area of expertise is DNA profiling and Taxonomy of inverterbrates . The purpose for his visit was to sample the hydrocoral Allopora. There are two color varieties of this species out here and he will be attempting through DNA analysis to establish if they are separate species. ( turns out they are not)
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:57 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy  Vis. 10 Miles Wind West 33 Knots  Sea 3 – 4 Foot Moderate
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:43 AM
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 18.5 �C �� Min. 10.1 �C �� Reset 18.5 �C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:23 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Clear �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind South 3 Knots �� Sea Rippled
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:11 AM
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 16.0 �C �� Min. 10.3 �C �� Reset 13.8 �C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 6:45 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Part Cloudy �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind West 30 Knots �� Sea 4 Foot Moderate With Low West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:16 AM
Monday, July 29, 2002
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 15.9 �C �� Min. 10.1 �C�� Reset 15.5 �C
posted by Carol or Mike S at 7:53 PM
Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Cloudy �� Vis. 15 Miles �� Wind West 25 Knots �� Sea 3 Foot Moderate With Low South West Swell
posted by Carol or Mike S at 5:21 AM

Stylaster parageus columbiensis: (Hydrocoral) –The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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pinkquadac

A bed of Stylaster parageus columbiensis. in front of the docks at Race Rocks off peg #2 at 10 meters. Note the basket star, clumps of whelks and patches of red encrusting sponge.picture width : 80cm.

This colonial hydroid grows from the 0.2 tidal level to over 20 meters in depth in various places throughout the Race Rocks Ecological Reservee. At low tide, it is visible in several protected crevices and in Anita’s tidepool ( #6 on the West shore) Subtidally it is common in both purple and pink colonies . East of the Middle Islands, it has been observed by divers at 20 meters, growing in erect branching form of considerable profile ( to 20 centimeters.)

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Hydrozoa
Order Anthoathecata)
Family Stylasteriidae
Genus Stylaster
Species parageus columbiensis (Lindner & Cairns)
Common Name: Hydrocoral

In July of 2002, Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss of Sooke had Alberto Lindner, a PhD student from Duke University visiting to exchange scientific information and to get help with identification of hydroids from collections in Alaska and the Olympic Penninsula. Alberto is studying the systematics and evolution of hydrocorals using morphological and molecular biology methods for his Ph.D. thesis. His supervisor and advisors are Dr. Stephen Cairns (Smithsonian) , Dr.Chris Cunningham (Duke University) and Dr. Dale Calder (Royal Ontario Museum) This is part of a program of training young zoologists in established and new methods of sytematics. Alberto comes from Brazil, having completed a Master’s degree in the University of Sao Paolo.

 

hydrocoralAnita made arrangements with us to get Alberto to the islands so that he could see Allopora growing in its natural habitat. Although it was not a zero tide level, we were still able to collect several small samples for him to do DNA analysis. He hoped to be able to sort out whether or not there is a distinct species difference in the color varieties we find at Race Rocks. 

rm2010hydrocoral2

The two color morphs of Stylasterias parageus columbiensis at Race Rocks . photo by Ryan Murphy

After returning to his lab and doing further analysis, Alberto reported that “It is pretty safe to say that the purple and pink color morphs of Stylaster corals (Allopora) from Race Rocks are the same species”. He has also noted the same result with deep-sea species from the Aleutians, as the orange and pink forms there do not separate the species.

See the record of his research on species identification here: Stylaster parageus columbiensis Lindner & Cairns in Cairns & Lindner, 2011

The following images were taken by the Ecoguardian Ryan Murphy in 2010. many different species including basket star in the image above have adapted to use the hydrocoral as a habitat because of it’s protective crevasses.

see this link for other hydroids:  https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/hydroid/

This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by Lester B. Pearson College students, staff, volunteers and local scientists.

Sean Leroy doing Masters Thesis on MPA Advisory Process

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Thursday, June 13, 2002
TEMPERATURE Max 20.8C  Min 11.1C  Reset 19.2C
MARINE LIFE: The harbour seals are becoming very nervous of human presence, several times today they swept into the water at the sight of people on the pathways. The 4 pairs of Oystercatchers all have chicks now, a good sign that perhaps the river Otter has left the island. Two octopus were sighted in the low intertidal over near the surge channel this morning.

Sean Leroy at Race Rocks

HUMAN IMPACT: Five eco-tourism vessels through the reserve and five fishing vessels on the reserve’s perimeter.

Garry and Hyaku docked with two visitors this morning, Sean LeRoy, Graduate Researcher, Georgia Basin Futures Project
Sustainable Development Research Institute, University of British Columbia and Dr.James Tansey also of UBC. They came to participate in the webcast with Garry and Ryan on Marine Protected Areas this morning with Tim Langois, Leigh Marine Laboratory University of Auckland, and Anne Saloman, University of Washington, Zoology Department .

langoisgroupAfter a tour of the Island and a great discussion about MPA’s in Canada and New Zealand they all left in the afternoon.
posted by at 10:49 PM

Good Morning:
WEATHER: Sky Clear  Vis. 8 miles  Wind 0-5 Knots from West  Sea 1-2 Foot Chop
posted by Garry Fletcher at 5:03 AM

Bayside Middle School Visits

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Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Good Evening:
TEMPERATURE Max 19.5C  Min 7.8C  Reset 19.5C
MARINE LIFE: Some large sea anemones spotted in the low intertidal today, many covered with shell grit as a protective layer from the heat. One Bald eagle sighting this morning, however none this evening. The Geese and Goslings were drinking from the freshwater pond frequently today, a sign of the hotter weather, however raising concerns about the eventual limits of the water supply.
HUMAN IMPACT: Hyaku docked with Garry and five students and their teacher from Bayside Middle School at low tide today. They participated in our live webcast as we showed them the special features of the island’s ecosystems. We have been particularly careful to provide a low-impact program so that the seabirds and seals are not disturbed. Zodiac left during the late evening. 6 ecotourism and three fishings boats through the reserve today. Michael Kiprop returned to Metchosin today to catch his flight home to Kenya tomorrow. We have appreciated his daily commitment to the technical aspects of our live mobile webcasts.
posted by at 11:20 PM

The divers observed a new species of Nudibranch

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Saturday, June 08, 2002

TEMPERATURE: Max. 13.7C  Min. 8 C  Reset 11.5 C
MARINE LIFE: The Gulls have had a calm day with no visits by bald eagles. One Sea lion appeared on the boat ramp this afternoon. The divers observed a new species of Nudibranch at around 10m.
HUMAN IMPACT: The divers finished the repairs to the conduit in the afternoon. Three ecotourist boats were spotted in the reserve and one pleasure craft was spotted speeding right through the reserve.
posted by at 10:48 PM

Good Morning
WEATHER: Sky Partly Cloudy  Vis. 8miles Wind From West 15knots  Sea 1 foot chop
posted by at 5:39 AM