Yesterday was the first day of October and there was an incredible amount of animal activity around Pedder Bay.
The first animal of note was a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) on the ramp down to the Pearson College dock. It was very distracting to Marine Science students…
At the same time the heron was making its way down to the dock, three mink also scrambled down towards the water. Since it was difficult to keep the class focused, we went down to the dock and checked the succession substrates that were suspended over one year ago.
Lots of bryozoans, hydrozoans and several crescent gunnels (Pholis laeta).
While down at the dock, second year marine scientists noticed a hooded nudibranch (Melibe leonina) drifting around at the surface.
Not a great photo or video footage but a very cool little watermelon-smelling organism! Cool enough to have a song written about it by Hanne and Killaq.
First year marine scientists measured the variation in temperature and salinity off the Pearson College dock after big rainfall during the weekend.
| Depth (m) | Temperature (oC) | Salinity (ppt) |
| 0 | 11.3 | 11.9 |
| 0.5 | 10.7 | 30.6 |
| 1 | 10.5 | 30.8 |
| 2 | 10.5 | 30.9 |
| 3 | 10.4 | 30.9 |
| 4 | 10.5 | 31.0 |
| 5 | 10.5 | 29.7 |
| 6 | 10.5 | 29.0 |
While collecting these data we spotted some further animal activity at the mouth of Pedder Bay:
A submarine being escorted to the Navy dock. What a day!
Pearson College Marine Science 