This afternoon we went on our first snorkeling trip! We headed to Graham’s Harbor which is west of North Point, where we were this morning. At Graham’s Harbor there is a sea turtle sanctuary. While snorkeling, Rex, Ethan, and Lucas saw several sea turtles. The rest of us saw lots of other life. This area is shallow with many seagrass beds. We saw two types of seagrass. The first is a wide flat seagrass called Thalassia (common name: turtle grass) the second is a stem with a round top called Syringoduim (common name: manatee grass). As you would expect, the sea turtles eat the turtle grass.
We also saw several other types of organisms. There were a few different types of fish spotted, including cowfish and sturgeon. On the sandy bottom there were several large starfish. They were an estimated 20cm across.
My favorite organism I saw was an anemone. We saw several Giant Caribbean Sea Anemones. They were approximately 6cm tall. We found them growing on a rock and in a discarded car tire.
We visited Grahams Harbor during low tide, so we were able to see many things in the tide pools on the shore. Some animals we saw were sea urchins, gobies, hermit crabs, mantis shrimp, and chiton. All of these organisms live in an intertidal zone so they have to be resilient to surviving underwater and out of the water as well as resisting wave energy. One organism which I think is particularly interesting is the chiton. Chiton are covered by a hard shell which allows them to cling tightly to the rocks and be protected from waves pulling them off.
The sand at this beach is similar to what we saw this morning at Rice Bay. It is a very light tan color with pieces of pink. The grains are very well spotted and a fine grain. The pink material is mostly dead forams but may also be shell or red algae fragments. Forams are small single celled organisms which can be pink in color. Pink colored forams are specific to the Caribbean region. Our first snorkeling and tide pooling experience was incredibly cool and there were so many things to see. I was impressed by the amount of different organisms we were able to see in such a small area and I look forward to continuing to learn about this region!
-Contributed by Isabel
Photo credit: Isabel
Comments