Category Archives: Species

Metandrocarpa taylori: The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Oozoid budding in Metanrocarpa taylori:, :”Larvae of the stolidobranch ascidian Metandrocarpa taylori molt a thin sheath upon settling, then metamorphose and radiate a larval complement of vascular ampullae upon the substrate. These ampullae thereafter regress, “rest” in a reduced condition for several weeks, and then regrow into the oozooids definitive array of vascular ampullae in accompaniment to the development of the oozooidal vascular nest of test-vessels. Pallial buds emerge some four months after the larva settles; the oozooid has by then grown to a length of at least 2 mm and its vascular nest is surrounded by at least 16 vascular ampullae. Oozooids bud one to five buds (mean, 2.6) in a rather short period of blastogenic vigor, then persist in the colony. Late buds are requently aborted.”
-Hiroshi Watanabe and Andrew Todd Newberry 1976.  Budding by Oozooids
in the Polystyelid Ascidian Metandrocarpa taylori Huntsman.  Journal
of Morphology 148(2):161-176. image by Ryan Murphy.

 

Metaandrocarpa oozoid buddingThe photo above is derived from the one above. Here the nudibranch Dendronotus albus is feeding on the tuniates.

 

 

 

A cup coral ballanophyllia growing amongst a colony of Metandrocarpa All images above were taken in 2010 by Ryan Murphy

 

 

 

 

 

The small orange tunicates are always colonial.

 

 

 

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Urochordata
Class Ascidacea
Order Pleurogona
Suborder Stolidobranchia
Family Pyuridae
Genus Metandrocarpa
Species taylori
Common Name: orange social tunicate

The common name for Metandrocarpa taylori is “colonial sea squirt”. This name comes from the animal’s ability to squeeze (“squirt”) out water if one removes them from their underwater home. Whilst they seem to be quite simple organisms regarding their shape, sea squirts are in fact quite close to humans on an evolutionary scale – they’ve got a spine.

Sea squirts belong to the phylum Chordata (as shown in the table above), which includes all animals with a spinal chord, a supporting notochord (backbone), and gill slits at one point in their lives–everything from fish to humans. Tunicates have all these features as larvae. A young tunicate larvae will swim around for some time, find a rock or another hard surface to settle down and make itself stick to this surface with adhesive organs. It then starts changing, rearranges its organs (loses the tail, degrades its nervous system) and becomes a full grown sea squirt. Sea squirts possess both sex organs, but are physiologically unable to self-fertilize.

Tunicates actually “wear” tunics. They secrete the leathery sac–called a tunic–that protects the animal. There are two openings in the sac, called “siphons.” Cilia on the pharynx move about to create a current and draw water in through the incurrent siphon. The water is then filtered through the mucus-coated pharynx, which traps food particles. Oxygen is drawn from the water as it passes through the gill clefts, and moves out through the excurrent siphon.

Divers at Race Rocks will be able to observe different kinds of sea squirts in or near rock niches. They settle down in patches of about 8-9 cm diameter. Sometimes one can also find a patch of sea squirts grown on kelp, which are mostly another species, metandrocarpa dura.

Suggestions for further research:

1. How do different factors – current, sea temperature, light – influence the water circulation in the sea squirts? Which influence does this water circulation have on the sea squirt’s direct environment?
2. In which depths do sea squirts grow? Does depth influence their growing? How far can the larvae move before the settle down and what influences their choice of location?

Sources:

http://www.umassd.edu/Public/People/Kamaral/thesis/SeaSquirts.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/chordata/urochordata.html

Marine Invertebrates of the Pacific Northwest, Eugene N Kozloff, 1996, University of Washington Press

Keys to the Marine Invertebrates of Puget Sound, the San Juan Archipelago, and Adjacent Regions, Eugene N. Kozloff and others, 1974, University of Washington Press
Other Members of the Subphylum Urochordata 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.  Ryan Murphy

 

Jeremias Prassl (PC yr 29)

Balanus glandula: Common acorn barnacle– The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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Habitat and Appearance

Acorn barnacles are crustaceans but are commonly confused to be molluscs. Their closest living relatives are the lobsters, shrimps and prawns. These creatures are usually found growing on rocks on the seashore in low tides. The shell of the barnacle resists the oceans wave and controls the body temperature, so that the animal does not dry out.

Transportation

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

These creatures feed  by using their antennae which have sticky ends. They feed on plankton which they sweep from the water using their feet. Their feet are the mechanism by which they filter food when underwater.

Reproduction

Barnacles are hermaphrodites; they have both male and female reproductive organs. Their reproductive organs at times are bigger then their body size by ten times. They cluster together in order to fertilize the females. They may also reproduce clones of themselves.

Eating Habits

Acorn barnacles filter zooplankton. They eat fine organic particles and plankton.

Longevity

3-5 years
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
Subphylum Crustacea
Class Maxillopoda
Infraclass Cirripedia
Superorder Thoracica
Order Sessilia
Family Balanidae
Genus Balanus
Species glandula
Common Name: Common acorn
 

reference:

http://www.fathom.com/fks/catalog/feature.jhtml?story_id=121900&featurePageNumber=2

Mehvish Mehrani PC  2002

Leathesia difformis: sea caulifower– the Race Rocks Taxonomy

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leathesia

Leathesia difformis photos by Ryan Murphy

leathesiadifformis

Leathesia difformis with barnacles:  photos by Ryan Murphy

Leathesia is a brown kelp. It is found around the Race Rocks region. It is a small brown alga that is usually found in the form of small hollow irregular balls, it is called Sea Cauliflower because it looks like cauliflower due to the invaginations on the suface of the hollow irregular balls.Description: This plant is spherical and solid when young, becoming irregularly convoluted, hollow and broadly expanded at maturity; it is spongy in texture, up to 12 cm. in diameter and yellowish brown in colour.Classification:
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom: Protochtista
Division Phaeaophyta
Class Phaeophyceae
Order Chordariales
Family Chorynoplaeaceae

Genus Leathesia
Species difformis
Common Name: Sea Cauliflower
Habitat: On rocks and epiphytic on other algae in the intertidal.
Pacific Coast Distribution: Bering Sea to Mexico. Robert Scagel, 1972

Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae 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. —–——- PC yr 31

 

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)

Cucumaria pseudocurata: Tar-spot Sea Cucumber

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DescriptionCucumaria 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.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Echinodermata
Class Holothuroidea
Order Dendrochirotida
Family Cucumariidae
Sub FamilyCucumariinae
Genus Cucumaria
Species pseudocurata
Common Name: Tar-Spot Sea Cucumber 

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.

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.

Erin Schwenger (PC yr 29))

Nereocystis luetkeana– Bull Kelp

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Video Saltwater

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Protoctista
Phylum: Phaeophyta
Class: Phaeophyceae
Order: Laminariales
Family: Lessoniaceae
Genus: Nereocystis
Species: luetkeana
Common Name:  Bull kelp
Nereocystis (greek= mermaid’s bladder) has only one species, N. luetkeana.

Plants consist of a long stipe (up to 36 m/118′) attached to the ocean floor by a holdfast composed of numerous haptera (finger-like projections) and terminated above, on the ocean surface, by a single float from which a cluster of tightly branched smooth blades arise. The blades are long (up to 4 m/13′) and narrow (usually less than 20 cm/8″ wide). Overall, this species reminds us of a very large gothic brown onion of extraterrestrial origin. This form, commonly referred to as bull kelp, is attached subtidally but forms surface canopies throughout its distribution from Alaska to central California.

At Race Rocks, all the islands are fringed by this species during the summer months. Several features make this species unique. It grows as an annual although some members persist into a second year. Most plants gets torn off by winter storms, landing on beaches to be decomposed, releasing the nutrients back into the ocean through a saprophytic food web. The following pictures illustrate the tangled masses which end up on beaches near the reserve.

This means that the plant achieves its significant length in one growing season (most growth occurs between March and September). To reach the maximum stipe lengthof 36 m (118′), the plant must grow an average of 17 cm per day over the approximate 210 day period. Nereocystis has a logistic problem in completing its life cycle. The spores are produced on the blades at the ocean surface, often several metres above the ocean floor, but a critical concentration of spores is required near where the parent plant is successfully established to assure re-occupation of this optimal space once the annual plant is lost. So the sorus (spore patch) drops from the blade and delivers its concentrated spores to the bottom before releasing the spores. This is the only kelp to release spore patches.Ronald E. Foreman in pursuit of his PhD discovered that the float, which may have a volume of up to 3 liters, has carbon monoxide, an infamous poison as one of his buoyancy gases. Foreman has studied the commercial cultivation of red seaweeds.Nereocystis on the Beach : Organisms are often involved in modifying the environment. The images in this file were taken in December 2006 after a strong north east wind pounded the lower end of Vancouver Island with the result that many Nereocystis ended up on local beaches near Race Rocks. Videos: The Color of Kelp and

 

 

 

Video: Saltwater: A video set to the music of Holly Arntzen: by Jean Olivier Dalphond (PC yr26)

See other posts on this website about Nereocystis sp.Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae 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 filr by: PC Susanna B. (PC yr 28)

Hedophyllum sessile: sea cabbage–The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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hsessile5

Hedophyllum sessile : All Photos by Ryan Murphy

Description: This plant is an ovate blade with a short stipe when young, but the stipitate region soon disappears and subsequently the profusely branched root-like holdfast arises from the base of the blade.  The blade becomes markedly furled and often deeply dissected (especially in surf-swept regions).  The plant is 30-150 cm. long and up to 80 cm. wide.  The surface of the blade is densely bullate, except near the base, where it is smooth (in surf-swept regions it may be completely smooth)


Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Protochtista
Division: Phaeophyta
Class: Phaeophyacea
Order: Laminariales
Family: Laminariaceae
Genus: Hedophyllum
Species: sessile
Common Name: stipless kelp, sea cabbage
Habitat:  On rocks in the middle and lower intertidal and upper subtidal zones.
Hedophyllum is a brown algae. It has no stipe (that is the origin of its common name- stipe-less kelp). Its holdfast is usually very developed and the blades vary between bright and dark brown according to site of habitation.

It lives and grows in mid and lower intertidal zones of Race Rocks. Found in both wave exposed and sheltered sites. in the wave exposed areas, the blades are generally smooth and shreaded to thiner blades, while in the protected areas, the blades have wavy surface and they are generally longer. The length of the blades vary between 20 cm and 40 cm.
Pacific Coast Distribution:  Alaska to California.Robert Scagel, 1972
Other Phaeophytes or Brown Algae 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. , 8/12/02 Oriya Barzel –2002

 

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)

Parasabella media: Parasol Feather worm

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rmapr09demonax-1

myxicola

The diver’s finger points to the feathery tentacles-

Parasabella media , 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 sub-tidally at Race Rocks.

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Annelida
Class Polychaeta
Order Sabellida
Family Sabellide
Genus      Parasabella
Species     medi
Common Name: Parasol Feather duster
This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by the students, staff, faculty and volunteers of:
Lester B. Pearson College		 Dec. 2002 Garry Fletcher