FoER Field Trip ——–May 12, 2013

The Friends of Ecological reserves sponsored a field trip to Race Rocks On Sunday May 12. Chris Blondeau, Director of Operations for Lester Pearson College operated the boat and Garry Fletcher led a  group of ten on a tour of the reserve. The following gallery of images shows some of the activities.

references:
The tagging of elephant seals indicating their origin:

The hurricane of 2006

 

 

Puget Sound King Crab

I found this spectacular animal in the high inter-tidal zone, quite fresh. Not sure how or why it was where it was… it seems intact and undisturbed. Regardless it deserves to be documented, and I have frozen it so the students can study it later.

It appears to be a Lopholithodes mandtii. Puget sound King Crab.

Note:  DO NOT COLLECT THIS CRAB!  It is uncommon in Puget Sound/Straits and the Washington Fish and Wildlife dept. lists it as a protected species.  Adults come up shallower to breed in late winter and spring.  This is one of the largest crabs on the Pacific Coast of the 48 states.  Carapace width can be up to 30 cm or more.  It feeds on sea urchins and other echinoderms, has been observed eating sea anemones.  Chelae are surprisingly cuplike, and lined with teeth and setae .  Juveniles are a bright orange with prominent tubercles on the carapace, and may occasionally be found under rocks at extremely low tide. (http://www.wallawalla.edu/academics/departments/biology/rosario/inverts/Arthropoda/Crustacea/Malacostraca/Eumalacostraca/Eucarida/Decapoda/Anomura/Family_Lithodidae/Lopholithodes_mandtii.html)

Arctonoe pulchra

rmscaleworm011-11-18 at 5.00.26 PM

Photo by ryan Murphy

 

rmscaleworm2012-03-26 at 11.39.25 AM

Ryan Murphy took these images of this scale worm in a commensal relationship with sea star.

This set of images taken by Ryan Murphy shows one of the more delicate of the Polynoidae, or scale worms. Divers  often find scale worms on the underside of Sea stars and sea cucumbers at Race Rocks. This has not been positively identified but it could be one of the two of three species in the Genus Hololepida. 

The following classification is based on that of the Animal Diversity Web:

Kingdom Animalia
 Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Aciculata
Family  Polynoidae
Genus Hololepida
There are two possible species :
Species: australis
or Species : veleronis
The Taxonomy files are the result of collaboration between students, faculty, staff and Volunteers of Lester Pearson College— Garry Fletcher,

Stylaster parageus columbiensis- Lindner & Cairns in Cairns & Lindner, 2011

Record in the Smithsonian Institute, from : http://collections.si.edu/search/record/nmnhinvertebratezoology_910698?q=set_name:%22Invertebrate+Zoology%22

Stylaster parageus columbiensis Lindner & Cairns  (**in Cairns & Lindner, 2011)

Paratype for Stylaster parageus columbiensis Lindner & Cairns in Cairns & Lindner, 2011
Catalog Number: USNM 1096625
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Invertebrate Zoology

Microhabitat Description:
shallow water
Collector:
Dr. Alberto Lindner
Ocean/Sea/Gulf:
North Pacific Ocean
Preparation: Dry
  • Sex: male
  • Type Status: Paratype
Place:
Strait of Juan de Fuca, Race Rocks near Sooke Community, British Columbia, Canada, North Pacific Ocean
Collection Date:
Jul 2002
Common name:
Hydrozoans
Taxonomy:
Animalia ,
Cnidaria ,
Hydrozoa,
Anthoathecatae
Stylasteridae
Published Name:
Stylaster parageus columbiensis Lindner & Cairns in Cairns & Lindner, 2011
Stylaster campylecus parageus (Fisher, 1938)
Stylaster sp.
Stylaster parageus (Fisher, 1938)
USNM Number:
1096625
Specimen Count:
1
Site Number:
AL 470
Record Last Modified:
17 Jul 2013
See more items in:
Invertebrate Zoology
Data Source:
NMNH – Invertebrate Zoology Dept.
Visitor Tag(s):
**Paratype: Cairns, S. D. & Lindner, A. 2011. A Revision of the Stylasteridae (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Filifera) from Alaska and Adjacent Waters. Zookeys. 158: 1-88.

See the entry of the Race Rocks Taxonomy

Stomatoca atra: the Race Rocks taxonomy

Ryan Murphy took these pictures of Stomatoca atra underwater at Race Rocks. It was identified by Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss.

rm291010jell

rm291010jelly

hydrozoafoodweb

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

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

Pollicipes polymerus – Nakwakto variety of goose-neck barnacle-The Race Rocks Taxonomy

Image by Garry Fletcher,September 7, 2011
This is the first image taken of this variety of gooseneck barnacle at Race Rocks. On the tidal energy generator which was removed in 2011. Two clumps of these barnacles were collected from a join in the housing materials. In Lamb and Hanby, Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest, they state the following:“—Nakwakto goose-neck barnacle, a large and colourful variation of the goose neck barnacle found inlNakwakto Rapids, Slingsby Channel, BC. The glorious red colour is actually the hemoglobin in the barnacle’s blood. The blood is obvious in subtidal specimens like these which do not have black pigment that which protects the sun-exposed populations inhabiting shallow or intertidal zones. Familiar to an ever-increasing number of recreational divers, the unique and isolated population must be preserved via a No-Take Marine Protected Area.”

Link to the regular taxonomy and image file for the more common  Pollicepes polymerus

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Order Thoracia
Suborder Lepadomorpha
Family Scalpellidae
Genus Pollicepes
Species polymerus

Common Name: Goose neck Barnacle Nakwakto (variety)

 

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.

 September 2011- Ryan Murphy