The seventh graders at Hopkinton Middle High School hopped on the bus and went to Odiorne point to go tidepooling.We were divided and put onto two buses and we stayed like that for around an hour and a half. When we got there we walked on the sidewalk safely to some picnic tables by the playground, some put their bags underneath the picnic tables and some put them on the table. While there we saw many interesting different types of creatures while tide pooling. While there many of us fell into the water and got completely soaked. At 11:00am we ate lunch on benches,picnic tables, rocks, and even the grass.Some of us who were in the water and came when Mr.W called we saw the drowned forest, which was so cool. Time flew by and we were getting on the bus again however this time we were making a stop, we stopped to get ice cream where the kiddie sizes were HUGE. After finishing our ice cream we then headed back to school to get back in time for the track dismissal and for regular school dismissal.
First off intertidal zone means where ocean meets land between high and low tide. There are four intertidal zones and each of them are unique and different.
The first zone is the black zone or the splash zone. It usually is not home to as many tide pool animals. It gets its name the black zone because it is covered in cyanobacteria, which is usually a greenish blue, however when it is on the rocks it looks black. This zone is the closest to the dry zone however it does get splashes of water hence the name splash zone.
White zone
The white zone is after the black zone and it is covered in rocks and barnacles, the barnacles are a white color and they change the rocks color and makes it look like a polka dotted rock from far away.This does get covered and splashed with water, however not as much as the two lower ones.
Brown zone
The brown zone gets its name because of the amount of different types of seaweed that cover it, some of the types of seaweed Rockweed, knotted wrack, horsetail kelp, and many more different types of seaweed. This is also very close to the water and very often it is in the water. The brown zone mainly only really has a variety of snails living in it and not much animal life.
Red zone
The red zone is partly in the water and is the closest zone to the subtidal zone. It is mainly called the red zone because of the irish moss which is usually red but can be other colors such as green. The red zone is usually a zone where many tide pool animals live.
I saw many creatures when I was at Odiorne Point each and everyone of them was different and equal interesting.One of the animals I saw was a crab, however there are many different types of crabs, some of the types of crabs I saw were a green crab, hermit crab,and a jonah crab. All the crabs I saw varied in sizes, some were tinier than my thumb nail and some the same size or even larger than my hand. Another animal I saw was a snail, however I saw two different types of snails, one of these was a periwinkle snail, the periwinkle snails that I saw were usually a blue or gray and blended into the rocks extremely well. Also they are more rounded and not as pointy.The other type of snail I saw was a Dog whelk Snail, which was more pointed and yet again were extremely camouflaged to the rocks. Both of these snails when I saw them hid in their operculum. One animal I saw that I thought would be dangerous was the sea urchin, many of the sea urchins I saw were green and they would move in my hand which was a weird sensation considering that they would move slowly and that they would move their spikes to roll. They were generally small and could fit in the palms of my hands. One of my friends found a northern sea star which was so cool mainly because of the mouth on the bottom that was cooler than I could have expected. The sea star was orange and yet again was generally small but nevertheless it was very interesting. I saw many limpets, limpets are extremely small somewhere around the size of a penny. Many of them were sticky on the bottom and they were sticking to rocks. I saw multiple types of seaweed and kelp, bubble gum algae was red and or pink and was on almost all the rocks I found. I saw a lot of horsetail kelp and it was very interesting since I did not expect it to be that long and it was surprisingly smooth. As well I found many barnacles. They were mainly in the white zone and covering the rocks, however they were also all over going to the red zone. I saw many different types of kelps and algae such as bubble gum algae,which is a pinkish color and it was on almost all the rocks I saw, coraline was the next type of kelpfish plant I saw, it is actually classified as an animal and it is a white color, they have little bubbles of leafs, the last type of algae I saw was funicat, which was rubbery and was smeared on rocks. At the end of the trip we went to the drowned forest which is thousands of years old and was fascinating to see, the tree stumps just barely stuck out of the sand and mud. Also the wood was surprisingly soft to the touch. You could see the roots spreading out however they did not go very far.
I think that the most variety in animal life is in the red zone.I think that this is partly because there is more water for more animals to live in. Also there are more rocks for animals to hide under, in, and attach to.For the tinier animals the shallower parts are great for them but they are still able to go into deeper water.
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| This is a sea urchin and is mainly in the red zone and near rocks. | This is an adult barnical which are mainly in the white zone but do go all the way down to the red zone. |
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| This is an northern sea star which was found in the red zone by my friend. | These are periwinkle and dog welck snails which were found in the brown and red zone. |