Week 1- Hello Hatfield!

Monday

Monday was the first day of our term here at Hatfield! There are 27 of us starting our journey to becoming scientists and we are the largest class size in the history of this course being taught. It’s crazy! It was a long day, starting with an orientation to the course and a tour of the facilities. We got to see the lab that we will be calling our second home for the next ten weeks and we learned about life at Hatfield and in Newport. That included learning about Donut Wednesdays, Sailing Wednesdays, Tiki Tuesday, and all the cools spots around town. Then we had our first two lectures of the term about the history of the Oregon coast and why studying marine biology is important. Later in the night we took a “Tsunami walk” going along the tsunami evacuation route to Safe Haven Hill, where a shipping container of supplies sits ready for when “ the Big One” happens. It rained the whole walk and we were soaked when we came back… and the forecast for the rest of the week says it’s supposed to rain. Our night ended with sharing pies and getting to know our classmates who we will be spending a lot of time with and living next to for the next ten weeks. We learned where everyone’s from, their majors, and their dream jobs some of which included being the next Steve Irwin, a racecar driver, and a food critic/geneticist. All in all it was a good (though very wet) first day.

Tuesday

Our second day at Hatfield was the day of our first field trip! In the past years that this course has been taught the field trip days typically meant early mornings catching low tides, but this week our field trips meant late (not that late but still) nights as low tide was forecast for between 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm. So, lucky us because we didn’t have to be at class until 9:00 am every day this week. Our day started off with two lectures, one introducing us to marine invertebrates and the other about phylum Porifera. After lunch our first assignment was already due, and it’s only day two! We then all got dressed in our rain gear and boots not knowing what to expect from our first field trip. We got to Tokatee Klootchman and thankfully it wasn’t raining. We made our way down to the tidepools and got to work searching for any and all invertebrates we could find. We quickly spread out searching for cool inverts. We found many Nucella ostrina (stripped dogwinkle), Anthopleura elegantissima (aggregating anemone), Anthopleura xanthogrammica (giant green anemone), and Pagurus spp. (hermit crab) right off the bat. After a little while the nudies (nudibranchs) began to show up left and right; we found many Hermissenda crassicornis and Rostanga pulchra, which are both very brightly colored species, there were also some Aeolidia papillosa. Some people (Allison) waded up to their waist to get a look at some Pisaster ochraceus. We ended the trip slightly wet, with a large haul of many chitons, snails, hermit crabs, and nudies.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we started our day with a lecture about Cnidarians and Ctenophores which was very interesting. We then headed to the staff lounge at Hatfield for Donut Wednesday. We got to talk to many researchers, NOAA officers, and other professionals in the marine biology field over coffee and donuts. It was awesome! We then went to the lab to work on identifying the many animals we collected the night before at Tokatee. We spent a large portion of our day in lab IDing organisms and starting to work on our notebooks, drawing species. That afternoon we headed for Boiler Bay all geared up for what was supposed to be another rainy day. Luckily when we got there it wasn’t raining anymore. We made the steep climb down to the tide pools and were off searching again for new invertebrate species. We found the glorious Cryptochiton stelleri, which is a GIGANTIC chiton, and people took turns passing around one that was rolled into a ball. We found some new species we didn’t previously have like Tonicella lineata (lined chiton), Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis (green urchin), and a few really cool sea stars. We made our way back up the steep cliff side, at least a few of us were a little sore after the climb. Then we ended our day by bringing our finds back to the lab and putting them into a tank.

Thursday

The day started out with two lectures all about worms. We learned about the many different kinds of worms and their different morphologies and life styles. After lunch we were back in the lab IDing our species we found at Boiler Bay and working more on our notebooks which were due at the end of the week. We worked on drawing species, classifying them and writing descriptions about them. After a few hours of lab work we got geared up for a field trip to the tide flats. We had to be ready to get muddy, so those of us that weren’t wearing proper waders duct taped our rain pants to our boots to keep our boots on and the mud out. Unfortunately, our good luck with the weather came to an end, and it rained while we were out in the field. We made our way out to look for worms, clams, shrimp, and whatever else we could find living deep in the mud. It didn’t take long for people to get stuck and start getting covered in mud. We found a few burrowing shrimp, Upogebia pugettensis and Neotrypaea californiensis. Most of the Upogebia we found had a parasitic isopod under their carapace (Orthione griffensis). When we made our way back to shore some of us opted to wash off in the stream that led into the bay while the rest of us waited until we go back to clean up. When we got back Ashley and Grace's boots were stuck on their feet because there was a lot mud in them! They finally got them off with the help of Eric, Megan, and a hose. We put our specimens in the lab and quickly went home to shower, clean up and rest.

Friday

On Friday we started the day off with a lecture about the phyla Arthropoda (crustaceans and insects) and Tardigrada (tardigrades). Did you know tardigrades can survive in space and maybe even originated there?! After lecture we unfortunately had 25+ mph wind, so instead of our planned trip to Cascade Head we switched a few days around and went to Newport Docks instead. We collected a variety of jellyfish and captured a couple of ctenophores, one of which was one of my favorite invertebrates, the sea gooseberries (Pleurobrachia bachei)! After spending a very, very long time staring at our beautiful, nearly invisible finds we got to work finishing up our scientific drawings and characteristic definitions that were due at 5:00 pm.

Saturday/Sunday

Dr. Sylvia Yamada, a researcher studying the invasive European Green Crab, worked with some volunteers from our class to set up a variety of crab traps. She taught them how to set up, bait, and put out the traps. With a total of about 25, the hope is we can catch some of the invasive crabs and take some measurements. We’ll be back with some of the results next week!

SOMETHING'S FISHY...

After a brief break in both classes and coursework, a new week brings a new professor, a new TA, and a new subject: FISH!

Group photo from day one at Tokatee Klootchman

Monday:

We dipped our toes into the new subject right away, spending the morning sloshing through the tide pools at Tokatee Klootchman in search of intertidal fish. In our rainiest field trip yet, we scooped up sculpin and gathered gunnels, bringing the best specimens back to the lab. After a brief lecture on general anatomy, we tried our best to apply what we learned, attempting to identify a number of fish specimens.

Tuesday:

Paige and Nick wading through the water to do a beach seine.

Everybody loves a beach day! We spent the afternoon at an estuary beach, while a select few braved the water to drag seine nets and capture fish. We sorted, counted, measured, and identified a number of species, including pipefish, flatfish, and juvenile salmon. Our biggest catch of the week, with a TL of approximately 22cm, was Leptocottus armatus, the Pacific Staghorn Sculpin. This little excursion was followed by lecture on reproduction and life history, allowing us to better understand the journey of the young fish we had just caught.

Wednesday:

As everyone was beginning to tire, we fought the mid-week blues with break in the morning for coffee and donuts. This was followed by a guest lecture from Dr. Bob Cowen about kelp forests and rocky reef habitats. We managed to experience a number of other habitats while escaping the stormy weather with an afternoon adventure to the AQUARIUM. Naturally, everyone gravitated to the open ocean exhibit, where sharks and rays take center stage.

Enclosed in the Aquarium’s longest tunnel, the class relaxed into a state of admiration and awe at the wonders of the deep. Sketching and photography ensued, along with identification of species and discussion of anatomical differences. The “Open Sea” exhibit houses 5 species of shark, schools of mackerel and anchovies, and bat rays. The largest shark species on display was the Broadnose Sevengill shark, Notorhynchus cepedianus. This shark is common along the Oregon Coast and can be identified by its unusual number of seven gills. Because of their gill number, they are thought to be related to ancient sharks, as fossils from the Jurassic period also boast seven gills. This oddity gives them the Guinness Book of World Records title for most gills!

Thursday:

Elakha cruise group two posing as their favorite fish: the English sole!

Thursday was the most highly anticipated day of the week: we got to spend the morning out on the Elakha, beam trawling and sorting fish for our research project. The early morning crew fought rain and sleepy eyes, but managed to have a blast. The afternoon crew was a bit luckier with the weather, and had just as much fun measuring and identifying fish. After a much needed lunch break, the afternoon took a slower pace, with a lecture on swimming and schooling followed by analysis of the trawl data. A small group of students then assisted Su and Miram in deploying light traps off the Pump House dock.

Friday:

The final day of the week was all about the class room! We had the pleasure of two guest lectures, from Dr. Wayne Hoffman and Dr. Christian Breseño-Avena, about herring and plankton, respectively. Our lecture on plankton was immediately followed by a plankton identification lab. We used microscopes to identify species and count plankton, determining that in one light trap we had collected over 125,000 planktonic organisms!

This week was packed full of lectures, field adventures, and fish! The week went swimmingly, but there is still a lot more schooling to do before we finish up the section on fishes.

Welcome to HMSC BI 450!

Today marks week one of our time here at Hatfield for BI 450, it has been very busy but extremely fun. 9 am Monday morning we all migrated the 500 feet from our apartments to the classroom for a tour of the campus and introduction to the staff. We later learned about the landscape of the Oregon coast and why marine biology is important (even though Sally was preaching to the choir).

Students collecting invertebrates at Boiler Bay. On the right is a
boiler from an old ship that crashed here 107 years ago, hence
the name: Boiler Bay. 

Tuesday was more eventful, we began learning marine invertebrate phylums, starting with Porifera -the sponges. We then went out for our first day of fieldwork to Boiler Bay. The tide pools were amazing and rich with biodiversity. Everyone clomped around in their raingear with little cups and sketchily rust scrappers collecting animals. This trip had probably the highest turnover rate of all our trips this week, collecting organisms from crabs to snails to nudibranchs to urchins to chitons and so much more.

Wednesday we learned about anemones, corals and jellies of the phylum Cnidaria then were inaugurated into the HMSC wide tradition of coffee and donut break. Of course free donuts were great, but it was also nice to talk to staff at Hatfield that we otherwise wouldn’t interact with. We learned about their research and helpful hints about the town -such as where to find agates, chanterelles and good hikes. After some lab work and lunch we drove out to Tokatee Klootchman for more fieldwork. This intertidal was harder to find organisms in -especially since we had already collected so many the previous day- but we were able to expand our inventory, including many Aeolidia papillosa and a Hermissenda crassicornis!

Right: Anthopleura xanthogrammica
Left: Chrytochiton stelleri

Thursday was probably the most exciting day of the week. We started the morning off with some awesome worm lectures and then headed off to the mudflats to collect more invertebrates. Before leaving, Sally surprised everyone with some chocolate cake for Miranda’s twenty-first and Sammy’s twenty-second birthdays (thanks Sally!). The mudflats were a blast. The mud was extremely hard to walk through because it was so soft and deep. Almost everyone took a fall or two! The most adventurous of us managed to get all the way to the water’s edge where we were waist deep in mud and had to resort to crawling on our hands and knees to keep from sinking. Despite the challenge, we found tons of worms, crabs, and shrimp that we took back to the lab, along with lots of mud!

Alanna digging for worms!

Friday went a little differently than we had planned. We were supposed to go on a fun hike up to Cascade Head, but the strong winds and heavy rain forced us to change our schedule around. Instead, we had some interesting lectures on Molluscs and Lophophorates, and then lots of lab time to finish up the three notebook entries that were due at the end of the day.

Saturday was Marine Science Day at Hatfield. The education building was packed with booths and exhibits showing off scientists’ research and educating the public about the wonders of the ocean. We took turns telling guests about all of the invertebrates that we had collected in the field this week, which turned out to be a pretty handy study tool for our final next Friday! It was really fun to see everyone so excited about marine biology. David also turned twenty one and got to share his day with Marine Science Day!

While walking on the beach this weekend we found hundreds of stranded Velella velellas due to the high winds on Friday. This was especially interesting because we had just learned about this species in lecture on Wednesday. These jellies have clear ‘sails’ that project out of the water and catch winds to locomote. 50% of the population is born with sails twisted to the right and the other 50% has sails twisted to the left. This means that large winds will separate the population in half to opposite sides of the Pacific ocean.