For this Field Trip we took two buses and sat like church mice in our pews with our readers in front of us, singing to ourselves. Then we got off the buses and then went tide pooling, ate lunch, and played football. Then we went back on the buses, got ice cream and blah blah blah blah blah.
Tides occur when the gravity from the moon pulls water towards it creating a bulge of sorts. The water and the earth are pulled towards the moon creating this bulge which causes the water to behave the way it does. There is a bulge on the front and back side of the earth, similar to when you pull a slinky down and release. It goes back up, and then comes back down, ebbing and flowing. When the tides change from low to high, your section of the earth is closest to the moon which therefore means you’re in the bulge.
The first intertidal zone at Odiorne Point is the black zone. The black zone is covered in a substance called Cyanobacteria. This Cyanobacteria is a very sturdy organism and can go up to 12 hours without water. When the tides get high, water splashes on the Cyanobacteria and rejuvenates it. The intertidal zone is the one closest to the inland. The second intertidal zone is the white zone. The white zone gets its name from all the barnacles that call this zone home. There are barnacles in other zones too but they are most plentiful in this zone. There also may be some Cyanobacteria in this zone. Barnacles learn to live with the inferquency of water and changing tides of this zone and shut their shells when it’s low tide to preserve water and then open them to feed when it’s high tide. The third intertidal zone is the brown zone. This zone gets its name from all the seaweed that lives here. These seaweeds (primarily Rock Weed and Knotted Wrack) have things called air bladders that fill with air and help the leaves float to the surface of the water to get sunlight. The fourth intertidal zone, last but not least, is known as the red zone. The red zone is full of ocean plants known as Irish Moss. Irish moss is red which gives this zone its name. Irish moss can also be used as a thickening agent and is frequently used in toothpastes and puddings you might buy at the grocery store.
While at Odiorne Point, I saw many things. I saw some Sea Urchins, some Starfish, and lots of crabs. I saw a bunch of seagulls waiting to eat the dead bodies of children who were killed by the lobsters. I also saw this weird underwater bug thing that was just doing its thing and swimming around. I also got pinched by a big crab.
///////////////////////////
At Odiorne, most of the interesting things I found were in the brown zone. I think that the seaweeds provided a place for crabs and things to hide. I found a few big crabs and a few little crabs. There were also a few hermit crabs. Mostly crabs. Although, I did find a few sea urchins here and there, most likely eating the sea weed.
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
All of these creatures were found in the brown and red zones