By the wind sailors (Vellela vellela) at Witty’s

While F block was getting ready to do their transect study at Witty’s Lagoon – Tower Point yesterday, Mara found the first of many ‘by the wind sailors’ (Vellela vellela) that we would see in the afternoon.

These are planktonic cnidarians (related to jellyfish, anemones and corals) which float at the surface of the ocean and are usually found in the open ocean. Sometimes though, when the winds are blowing onshore, they arrive at beaches, usually in great numbers.

The one in the photo above is upside down (or perhaps I should say ‘sail-side’ down) in a tidepool with some very photosynthetically active green tangle weed (Acrosiphonia coalita) and some tentacles are visible.

Plankton sampling and examining

For the past week or so, first year Marine Science students have been learning about plankton. After collecting plankton of the Pearson College dock, students examined the samples using microscopes.

 

Some of the species in the sample included a cross jellyfish (Mitrocoma cellularia):

A sea gooseberry / comb jelly / ctenophore (Pleurobrachia bachei):

A sea cucumber auricularia larva:

More images and videos to follow…

A preponderance of plankton

A plankton sample collected from the mouth of Pedder Bay (near the Navy buoy) on Monday 24 September had an incredible diversity and abundance of both phytoplankton and zooplankton.  Species lists and selected photos are below.

Phytoplankton species list:

Diatoms: Thalassiosira sp., Asterionellopsis glacialis, Eucampia zodiacus, Coscinodiscus spp., Ditylum brightwellii, Chaetoceros spp., Thalassionema sp., Thalassiothrix sp., Stephanopyxis sp., Skeletonema sp., Pseudo-nitzschia sp., Cylindrotheca closterium

Dinoflagellates: Noctiluca scintillans, Ceratium sp.

 

 

 

Zooplankton species list:

juvenile bay pipefish (Sygnathus leptorhynchus), barnacle nauplius larva, other crustacean nauplius larvae, crab zoea larva, shrimp larva, snail veliger larva, sea urchin pluteus larva, orange-red eggs (possibly sea star eggs), sea star brachiolaria larva, sea cucumber auricularia larva, nemertean pilidium larva, polychaete worm larvae.

copepods, ostracods, cladocerans (Podon and Evadne), siphonophores (possibly Muggiaea), tintinnids, larvaceans (Oikopleura dioica), Obelia jellyfish