Last Blog!

The bat star can range in size from four to eight inches in diameter. They have five short triangular arms that are webbed, which is why it is called the bat star. The bat star’s colors are commonly seen as reddish-orange but can also be found in other colors such as brown, green, purple or pink. To avoid predators, they secrete chemicals that stimulate violent escape responses in other animals. Reproduction is done by the males and females releasing their eggs and sperm into the ocean. Fertilization of the egg occurs when it meets the sperm anywhere in the ocean. Bat stars can be found on rocks, sandy beach bottoms, and surf grass. They are most abundant in the kelp forests along the west coast.

Final Chapter with the Kelp Fish

As I stated before I am Ryan Van Noordt a Jr. at Norwich Political Science Major. I am doing the vertebrate animal in the group which is the Giant Kelp Fish. The scientific name of the animal is Heterostichus rostratus and is a blade shaped fish which help it stick close to the seaweed for hiding from predators. They have forked tails which separates it from other animals in the area of the kelp forest. The Giant Kelp fish comes in a variety of colors including red, green, brown, and silver and it can change colors as it ages. The size ranges but the Giant Kelp fish can reach up to 2 feet long. They live in the western coast of North America from as far north as British Columbia to Baja California. They eat small crustaceans and small fish and molluscs. They are related to one other fish named the fringeheads. As Kelp forests do the Giant kelp fish tends to live near shallow rocky environments in order to live in the seaweed. The eggs of these fish attach to the seaweed until the fish is born. The foliage under the ocean offer a habitat that they desire. With the chemical aspects of oceanography the kelp fish relies on certain nutrients that tend to come in seasonally. In the winter months it tends to be slower than the summer season. In the winter months there is a mixing and horizontal advection. There are also vertical motions of thermocline which bring the nutrients into the kelp forest. As for the physical properties of oceanography the kelp fish float around in the tide and it does not effect them too much. They also keep their eggs in the seaweed for protection to insure the tide doesn't take them away.

"Giant Kelp Fish." Monterey Bay Aquarium. Monterey Bay Aquarium, 2011. Web. 2 May 2011. .

"Marine Sportfish Identification: Other Fishes."Department of Fish and Game. The State of California, n.d. Web. 2 May 2011. .

Zimmerman, Richard C. "Episodic nutrient supply to a kelp forest ecosystem in Southern California."Journal of Marine Research. 42.3 (1984): 591. Print.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/jmr/jmr/1984/00000042/00000003/art00008

Kelp Forest webcam

If you want to check out a kelp forest in action, click on the link. Its a live feed of the kelp forest and life that inhabit this ecosystem at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_kelp/kelp_cam.aspx

Phytoplankton

Hello, my name is Gaeton, I am currently a JR at Norwich Univ. my major is SWAP and i am enrolled in GL111. I will be talking about Phytoplankton located in the Kelp Forests. The Phytoplankton I will be talking about is the kelp itself. Kelp are the largest form of algae. Kelps have more tissue structure than most algae but are much simpler. The kelps have strong stipes and effective holdfasts that allow them to colonize rocky pints in fast currents or heavy surf. Some kelps grow with holdfasts well below the depth of wave action and float their blades at the surface supported by gas filled floats. There are two main types of kelp; Bull kelp (Nereocystis) found along the Alaskan, British Columbian, and Washington coasts, Great kelp (Macrocystis) is found along California.

-This info was found in An Introduction to the World's Oceans on page 433.

-If you want to check out a website with more info, feel free to check out the NOAA website at http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/about/ecosystems/welcome.html

- Hopefully I will have a new update with new info after some more research. Hope this helps you out. Have a good one.

Zooplankton

Hello! My name is Nate and I am a Junior/Political Science Major. I will be reporting on the Zooplankton section of this blog. Personally, I found the Ctenophore to be extremely interesting. These tiny carnivorous hermaphrodites are everywhere in the ocean. They are most abundant in coastal regions and can live up to 4 KM below the surface. The contributions to their ecosystems are immeasurable.

Basic Information
Classification
-Phylum Ctenophora
Description Body Type
-Mass of Jelly
-Single Layer of Cells
-Small Cilia used for swimming
Size
2mm-1.5m
Area in which it lives
Worldwide Marine Waters
Diet
Microscopic larvae and Small crustaceans
Relatives
Cnidarians

I'm doing the kelp fish.

This fish is a brown fish and lives to be about 20 years old at the most. It stays at about 15 to 80 feet below the surface of the water. and the females and males grow at about the same size and rate except the females grow a little faster. They get to about 17 inches long.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/marine/nearshorefinfish/kelprockfish.asp

The kelp forest is seen in colder nutrient rich waters and range from both poles.

http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/kelpforest.html

The Bat Star

The bat star is found on rocks, the sandy beach floor and among surf grass in shallow waters of the Pacific coast from Alaska to Southern California and Northern Mexico. This sea star is easily distinguished by the webbing between its relatively short arms. It can reach a diameter of 8 inches and exhibit a wide range of colors: reddish-orange, brown, green, purple and pink.

I found this fact at:

www.georgiaaquarium.org/animalguide/coldwaterquest/batstar