The seventh grade went on a trip, by bus, to Odiorne Point. We went tide pooling and found lots of cool creatures. We played games and ate lunch by the ocean. It was a very nice day. Afterwards, we went home and
Tides are attracted to the Moon. The water on the Earth gets pulled to the Moon, but also gets pulled in the opposite direction. This bulge of water always stays in one place. When the Earth spins, the tide moves from place to place. When New Hampshire is facing the Moon, it will be high tide. When we are not facing the Moon or on the opposite side of the Moon, it is low tide.
The black zone is the first intertidal zone, after the dry zone, which never gets hit by water. The black zone gets its name because rocks in the black zone are covered in cyanobacteria. This zone gets hit with water only at high tide, so twice a day.
The next zone, the white zone, is the same kind of rock as the black zone, covered in cyanobacteria. The white zone gets its name because the rocks in the white zone are covered in white barnacles. This zone is wet twice a day but for a longer period of time.
The brown zone is also those black rocks, all the zones are. The brown zone gets its name because of the brown kelp that floats on the surface of this area. This area is pretty much always wet, except for at low tide. There are two types of kelp, Knotted Wrack, and Rockweed. These kelps have air bladders inside of them so that they can float on the surface of the water. They like to float on the surface so that they can photosynthesize.
The last zone, the red zone, is always submerged in water. It is called the red zone because of the Irish Moss, which is a kelp that lives in the red zone. Carrageenan is slimy stuff that is inside this moss. It is edible and is often used as a thickening agent in ice cream, and lots of other things. You would not want to eat carrageenan on its own.
We saw lots of seaweed, especially Knotted Wrack, but there was some Rockweed too. I saw lots of sea urchins and a sea star. There were tons of crabs of all sizes, most of them were green crabs. I saw a lobster and a lot of cyanobacteria.
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I think that the most variety was in the brown zone. There was some in the white zone, but it was mostly just snails and crabs. In the brown zone, there were kelps of all kinds, especially Knotted Wrack. There were sea urchins and sea stars in the brown zone.
I think this is because the water in the brown zone isn't quite as deep, unlike the red zone and the sub tidal zones. There is also kelp everywhere which I think provides shelter to a lot of creatures living in the brown zone. It is also submerged under water pretty much all the time which is good for a lot of creatures.