This
past week at Hatfield was successful even with the papers, presentations, and
practicals.
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| Searching for critters |
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| Ctenophores from the docks |
In between
lectures about Marine Invertebrates, John Chapman and Silvia Yamada came and
presented their interests, respectively, about the Japanese tsunami debris from
2011 and the invasive Carcinus maenas,
the European green crab.
On Tuesday we ventured to the docks in search of
Ctenophores and Amphipods.
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| However, no box jellies were in sight at the docks. |
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| The Whale Riders |
Wednesday night’s Marine
Invertebrate presentations were amazing and went swimmingly. Each group chose a
favorite invertebrate to research and write about, as well as present the
information in a creative and entertaining way.
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| Puppet show! |
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| Kelp Crab blues |
Some of the highlights from
this evening were musical stylings about Platyhelminthes (flat worms) and Pugettia producta (the Kelp crab),
poetry, an entertaining puppet show for the Giant Pacific Octopus, a Whale
Rider (Isopods) skit, cookie decorating for Decorator crabs, and fun and games
for box jellyfish and the king crab, which was presented by our own Deadliest
Catch fishermen.
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| Alexander's awesome use of technology to teach about the sea angel with fun and humorous animations |
At the end
of this week, we were busy studying for our exam and a lab practical. Some
students even participated in a species Jeopardy game to practice the Latin
names. Otherwise we were hard at work in the library and lab before completing
exams on Friday. We celebrated our first section with a potluck luau put on by
the students.
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| Box Jelly Games |
Lately in
the science world, there are promising horizons for a not-so-tasty tunicate.
Tunicates or sea squirts are closely related to us Homo sapiens, as they are also in the phylum Chordata. When
tunicates are in their larval stage they possess a notochord, dorsal hollow
nerve chord, pharyngeal gill slits, and a post-anal tail before they settle
down to a sessile state as adults.
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| Our Fishermen! |
Besides the sea pineapple, a tunicate
delicacy in Korea for sushi and Kim chi, tunicates also have brought new and
exciting contributions to the health world. Synioicum
adareanum is found in sub tidal areas of Antarctica and possesses a
polyketide amide that is potent at targeting melanoma cells, while not
destroying normal cells. This is an important finding for cancer research and
development for a worldwide health concern. Currently this polyketide amide is
in the process of being synthesized so no more sea squirts will be exploited
for this compound as a cancer treatment.
The ocean
is full of potential for medical uses and other human services just waiting to
be discovered, another reason for us to take care of our oceans.
Thank you Sally and Reuben for a great Marine Invertebrates
Section! We look forward to studying fish.
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| Our Platyhelminthes song |
Emily, Katie and Ellen
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