Tide Pools of Odiorne

By Emma C.

June 7, 2022

I didn't go on this field trip but I know that people went to Odiorne Point on two school buses. People spent time looking in the tide pools while some of the other kids went and played wiffle ball. On the way home from looking at the tide pools and drowned forest people got ice cream.

Tides are when the water line of the ocean goes up or down, if the water is higher than its high tide, if the water is lower than its low tide. This is due to the moon tugging at the earth. This makes tidal forces. This means that there is always a bulge of water on two sides of the earth.

The spray zone or upper zone is the driest of the intertidal zones. It only gets splashed at high tide. Things like the temperature of the spray zone change a lot since it’s not always dry but it’s not always wet either. The high intertidal zone or middle zone is usually about 50% wet. It’s in the spot where there are a lot of things like barnacles, snails, shore crabs, hermit crabs and other creatures like that around. Then, the lower zone is where there is water most of the time. The lower zone is only shown at very low tides. This is where a bunch of plants and animals like sea stars and anemones live. Finally, the zone under the lower zone is called the subtidal zone. This is always underwater with a few exceptions of low tides in the spring. There are a lot more animals in the zone than any other because this zone is the most stable for sea creatures.

I understand that people who went on this field trip saw the tide pools and animals like starfish, lobster, crabs, barnacles and other creatures. People saw some moss, algae, and other plants. People saw a grown lobster and a lot of baby lobsters. They also saw Jonah crab, sand crabs, snails, horse mussels and other things like that.

WHERE is there the most variety, and WHY do you think this is?

Since I didn't personaly go on this field trip I had to ask people who did which zone they think had the most veriety in. Everyone I asked said at least the red zone some also said the brown zone. People said the red zone because it's almost always submerged so ocean animals can live there without drying out.

On the top left there is a Daisy Brittle Star, next to it on the top right is the Green Sea Urchin. Under the Green Sea Urchin is the Lobsters, a grown Lobster and a baby Lobster. On the bottom left under the Brittle Sea Star and next to the Lobsters is a Horse Mussel.