Assignment : Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, San Pedro

Assignment : Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, San Pedro

Directions to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium:

From PIERCE take the San Diego Freeway south to the Harbor (110) Freeway San Pedro. Continue on the Harbor Freeway south, take the Catalina exit/Harbor Blvd (towards Vincent Thomas Bridge). Turn right at the end of of the offramp and take Harbor Blvd. all the way to 22nd St. Turn right on 22nd and then left on Pacific Ave (second traffic light). Take Pacific Ave with Fort Mac Arthur on your left to 36th street. Turn left onto Stephen White Drive and follow curve to right to Cabrillo Beach. There is limited free parking along the street or pull into the lot at the Aquarium for $6.50. Weekdays during the winter parking is (was?) free.

From Royal Palms State Beach Park turn right onto Paseo del Mar and follow along the cliffs. The road will turn into Shepard Street at Point Fermin Park. Continue and turn left on Pacific Ave. Follow Pacific Ave to 36th Street and turn right and follow curve to right to Cabrillo Beach. There is limited free parking along the street or pull into the lot at the Aquarium for $6.00.

Plan at least 3 hours to complete the exercise. The aquarium is excellent and you will probably want to spend longer and bring a friend.

Name:______

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Rocky Intertidal Exercise

Visit each of the exhibits listed below, read the information provided in the text and answer the following questions.

Rocky Intertidal Ecology

Answers to the following questions will be found by examining the following exhibits at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Shell Drillers, Predatory and Scavanger Snails, Masters of Masonry, Predators of PlantLike Animals, Predatory Seastars, Grazers and Browsers, Seashore Vegetarians, and Living in the Surf.

1. Describe the feeding habits (how they feed - what is the mechanism they use to eat) of the following and their food (what they eat) for the following organisms.

Exhibit - Seashore Vegetarians

feeding habits food

Haliotis cracherodii
(Black abalone) /
Aplysia californica
(Sea hare) /
Megathura crenulata
(Giant keyhole limpet) /
Astraea undosa
(Wavy topshell) /
Norrisia norrisi
(Norris=s welk)

Exhibit: Non-predatory Echinoderms

feeding habits food

Strongylocentrotus purpuratus
(Purple sea urchin) /
Strongylocentrotus franciscanus
(Red sea urchin)
Ophithrix spiculata
(Spiny brittle star)

Exhibit - Hunters on the Rocky Seashore: Diets of Seastars

feeding habits food

Pisaster ochraceus
(Ochre seastar) /
Astrometris sertlifera
(Sea star)

Exhibit - Hunters on the Rocky Seashore - Local Snails/Hunters and Scavangers

feeding habits food

Acanthina sp.
(Unicorn welk ) /
Conus californica
(California Cone snail)
Ceratostoma nuttalli
(Nuttal=s welk)
Kellettia kelletti
(Kellet=s welk)

2. Exhibit - Hiding in a Mussel Bed

1. How many different species of organisms may be found in one square foot of a mussel bed?

2. Which are the four most abundant species and approximately of each were found?

3. Exhibit - Borers of the Rocky Shore

Name three species of bivalves (clams) that bore into rocks and describe how they bore.

Name one species that occupies the holes bored by these clams after they die.

4. Exhibit - Masters of Masonry

What types of organisms form tubes in the rocky intertidal zone - and of what materials are their tube made?

5. Exhibit - Living on the Edge

Find and describe where in the rocky intertidal zone (upper, middle or lower zone) each of the following species located? After doing this find as many as you can in the ALiving in the Surf@ tank.

Species Zone

Littorina sp. (periwinkle)
Pachygrapsus crassipes (lined shore crab)
Chthamalus fissus (buckshot barnacle)
Egregia sp. (feather boa kelp)
Mopalia muscosa (hairy chiton)
Pagurus samuelis (hermit crab)
Tegula sp. (Turban snail)
Balanus glandula (acorn barnacle)
Aplyisa californica (sea hare)
Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Purple sea urchin)
Collisella scabra (rough limpet)

6. Exhibit: Filter Feeders

Explain how the mussel Mytilus californianus and how barnacles feed. How are they similar and how are they different?

7. Exhibit - Hunters of the Rocky Seashore

Name at least one predator of each of the following organisms:

Polychaete worms

Anemones

Mussels

8. You find a dead clam in a tidepool with the following predators: Pteropurpura, Ocenebra, and Pisaster. Explain how you would determine which of these animals was responsible for the death of the clam. (See Local Snails: Hunters and Scavangers)

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Wetlands Exercise

9. Exhibit - Mudflat: Cradle of Life

This exhibit shows you where the most common wetlands aquatic plants and animals are typically located in this habitat. Answer the following questions and complete the table below.

Describe in general the intertidal zonation scheme for the wetlands habitat.

Which species are found the highest in the zone, and which are the lowest?

What types of organisms are the following species, where in the intertidal zone are they found in which type of microhabitat?

Species / Type of organism / Intertidal Height / Microhabitat /
Zostera marina / XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Lacuna sp.
Mitrella sp.
Urechis caupo
Spartina foliosa
Chaetopteris variopedatus
Hemigrapsus nudus
Clevlandia ios
Conus californica
Cerrithedia californica
Tresus nuttalli
Upogebia sp.
Salicornia sp.

10. Exhibit - The Feasting Flocks

This exhibit about sea birds depicts the most of the common species you will see in southern California and northern Baja California wetlands. Look at all of the birds and read the information supplied for each of them. After thoroughly examining the exhibit fill in the table below.

What are the feeding methods employed by the following species of birds and on what do they prey?

Bird Species / Feeding Method / Prey Items /
California Gull
Caspian Tern
Clapper Rail
Ruddy Duck
Heerman=s Gull
Willet
Great Blue Heron
Dowitcher
Sanderling

11. Exhibit - Buried Alive

Infaunal species are those that live within the sediments in tubes, burrows or tunnels. In this exhibit there are several different infaunal bivalves (clams) species are represented along with explanations of the way in which they live within the sediments.

Define infaunal.

Why do you suppose the majority of bottom (benthic) organisms are infaunal?

12. Exhibit - Using the Right Tool

How do the feet and beaks of shore birds differ?

Beaks

Feet

13. Exhibit - Buried Alive

For each species listed below describe where in the mud they live (deep, shallow, etc), and the adaptations mentioned in the exhibit that they possess for living an infaunal existence.

Clam Species / Adaptations /
Macoma
Chione
Tresus
Tagelus
Lysonia

Cabrillo Marine Aquarium: Kelp Forest Exercise

14. Exhibit: Kelp Forest

List the different species of fish in this exhibit and where in the water column they spend the majority of their time. Are they primarily associated with the top or canopy, the middle or are they found near the bottom. Compare the way the different species of fish swim. What type of mouth do they have?

Species / Location in kelp / Mouth type / Swimming type /

What is the difference between the male and female sheephead fish?

What invertebrates are found on the rocky bottom of the kelp forest?

Give two examples of two kelp forest fishes which are camouflaged and explain how their coloration is effective in concealing them.

15. Exhibit: Disappearance of Giant Kelp

What is the scientific name of the Giant Kelp?

What commercially important substances are derived from kelp?

Name four different products which contain substances derived from kelp and explain the use of the kelp substances in the product.

When were the kelp forest of southern California reduced in number and size?

What factors are thought to have been responsible for their reduction?

What steps were taken in a effort to increase the abundance kelp?

How successful have the efforts increase the abundance of kelp been?

16. Exhibit: Fish Diversity

Fill in Table 1 below describing the features of the fishes in this exhibit.

/ Body form / Caudal fin / Coloration / Swimming type /
Moray eel
Kelp bass
Turbot
Sargo

Which of these fishes do you suppose ambushes its prey and which chase their prey down?

Ambush:

Chasing:

17. Exhibit: Color Change

What species of fish is in this exhibit?

What is the value of the ability to change color to this fish?

How does this fish feed, chasing or ambushing?

What structures does this fish use to change color? Is it a permanent or temporary color change?

18. Exhibit: Camouflage

Which species of fish are in this exhibit?

What habit do all these fishes have in common? (What are they doing as you look at them?)

Do they have any features other than camouflage which help to conceal them?

19. Exhibit: Territorial Fishes

List the species of fish in the exhibit.

Observe the behavior of the fishes. Which species chases the most frequently?

Observe the fins, are they normally extended outwards or are they folded back? What effect does this have on their apparent size?

Do these fishes tend to be camouflaged or conspicuously colored? Why do you suppose this is so?

20. Exhibit: Bioluminescence

What are the different animals which have light organs?

2. What is the light used for in each of these species?

3. What are the light organs called and how is the light they emit produced?

4. What is the structure of the light organ?