Our trip to Odiorne took place on a Tuesday, our grade boarding two different buses (particularly noisy buses) and then walked onto the sidewalk to get to where the tidepools were. We jumped with our sacrificial sneakers/ water friendly shoes onto the sharp and wobbly rocks, leaping into the 1-2 feet water and most likely crushing multiple snails in our journey. We scavenged for animals in the different tide zones for a bit, finding things like crabs, lobsters, (one lobster) sea urchins, daisy brittle stars, knotted rack seaweed, barnacles, and many more things. It was beautiful weather and the water felt amazing because it was also pretty hot outside. We jumped out to have lunch, while some played wiffleball/frisbee, and then went to see the drowned forest. After I'd fallen into the water while trying to rocks out of my croc and was soaked, along with many others, I ventured to the bathroom and changed into dry clothes. I also found some cute sunglasses on the playground that I took home, as well as burned my butt on the see-saw with Lia. I ran to the bus in barefoot while they were ready to take off, (it hurt my feet) and then got back on to go to my 5 hour track meet. :I
Tides occur because of the moon. The moon is orbiting in the Earth’s field, and so it affects the Earth by moving water to the gravitational pull of the moon’s rotation. Actually, the tide (largish-wave) that goes around the Earth and moves isn’t the one moving- it stays there, and the earth rotates on its usual spin. The tides are also sort of like bulges that come out from the earth.
The Spray/Splash zone (black) (I was doing the hand motion) Is the zone highest or farthest away from the water/tides. It has a bunch of seaweed, which sometimes dries up because the water is not always present in this zone. The reason it’s called the name it is is because it gets sprayed or splashed once in a while during high tide or storms. The High Intertidal Zone (white) gets a bit more water than the previous zone, but not much more - it’s just closer to water. It can stay dry for a while as well, but it also gets flooded once in a while because of the closeness to water. The animals that live there are mostly really tough animals, like barnacles, mussels, and limpets, because these animals can withstand the turbulence of sudden waves and crashes along the water and rocks. The Middle Intertidal Zone (brown) goes farther toward water- where it touches water quite a lot. A lot more of the life in four zones dwells here, because the tides simply flow along it a few times a day making it calmer than the High Intertidal Zone. Some animals that live here are sea stars and anemones. The Low Intertidal Zone (red) is the deepest of all, being nearly always underwater, even on low tides. This one is home to the most life, because of the calm waters and not as harsh splashing. The water also protects animals so they are not exposed to the air or things washed up on shore as much.
I saw a bunch of things, very few of which I found myself. I saw a daisy brittle star, which Coley found, and it was very small and squirmy. I have a picture of it below, although the one we found didn't have a face. I also saw a small lobster, who I'm pretty sure Lia found, and I saw many sea urchins in plastic baggies (which I felt the suction of their spikes through the bag!) My favorite thing to find was definitely the limpets, which I found seven of, and then put them up for adoption to Alice. They squirmed a bit when I tickled them, and I also drew a picture of them. The one thing I did find (other than limpets) was a baby green crab, although the drawing I featured here is a hermit crab (found by Lia and others.)
I think the most variety was in the middle of the shallow and deep, so the white/brown zone. I saw a lobster there, a bunch of crabs, a lot of similar animals that also lived in the splash zone, like limpets and snails. There was some sea urchins that I'm pretty sure were found there, and there were also hermit crabs and green crabs. This zone is also the in-between, so it's a pretty big gray area. I think most of the living things were here because it doesn't have too much thrashing and crashing of the waves, because the water is protecting, but it isn't too deep down from sunlight.
 |
