Aquarium Field trip

            On Thursday, the class all went to the much anticipated aquarium field trip! Prior to the field trip, everyone was talking about how exciting the aquarium was going to be. Upon arriving, we were separated according to our block to divide us into our stations. Our block was sent to do the marine lab first. During this lab, I learned a lot about different types of sea critters and their habitats. When examining the different types of organisms, our instructor let us touch the various organisms. From sea urchins to anemones, we learned about their role in the environment and why they were so important. Being able to physically pick up the organisms was my favorite part of this field trip because personally, I am fascinated by marine life. After the short hour and a half, we moved on towards doing some experiments with sea snails. This part of the lab was not as exciting as the other, but it was still interesting to learn about the sea snails and performing experiments. In our group, we tested if the snail could swim; which was proven false quickly, and we also tested if the snails were able to flip themselves if their shell was placed on the ground. In our group, the only time they were able to flip over was when they had a rock nearby so they could use that as leverage. After our marine lab was done, we all left to go and have lunch, which was expensive. Shortly after we finished eating, everyone split up and went into the aquarium to search for the answers to the many questions that we had to answer. Some questions were a lot harder to answer than others; however, with the help of some friends, I managed to successfully answer all of the questions. When exploring the aquarium, it was really interesting to take a look at the diversity of all of the organisms inhabiting our oceans. Reading the little information boards were very educational in showing us the role of that particular organism and a lot of them displayed an interesting fact. My favorite organism that I found in the aquarium was the jellyfish. I have always been fascinated with them because they are so unique to everything else which was perfect because we had just learned about them a day or two before hand. This field trip was one of my personal favorites because not only did we get to look at the different types of sea creatures through the glass, we were able to physically touch some of them. This field trip was very educational in the sense that we got to learn the way we wanted to. We got to hands on learn about organisms, or we could read the information displayed all around the aquarium. I only wish all field trips could be this exciting.

1.  The symbiotic relationship between the Clown Anemone Fish and the sea anemones is fairly simple. Since the clown fish have very similar cells to the anemone, they cannot be stung by the anemone's tentacles. In doing so, the clown fish can use the sea anemone as a place for shelter. In return, animals who prey on the clown fish will be drawn towards the anemone and will be stopped in it's path by the anemone's stinging tentacles. In short, the clown fish receives a home and the anemone receives cleaning from the clown fish and food,

2. It is so critical for a sea otter to have a clean pelt of fur because only clean fur is capable or trapping air. Since the otters have no blubber layer to keep them warm, they depend on this air coat to be a barrier between the water and the skin.

3.  Before the 1900s,  sea otters could be found near Amchtka Island and Alaska. They were hunted to near extinction during the fur trades, so some otters were taken from Alaska in order to breed them and repopulate the species in 1969- 1970.

4. The sea anemones that were located beside the sea otter tank was a light green.

5. My favorite invertebrate that was in the aquarium had to be the Japanese Sea Nettle. It got it's name because they throw a powdered sea nettle on an attacker's face which makes them 'sneeze'.

6.  The scientific name for a beluga whale is Delphinaplerus Leucus. In the Vancouver aquarium, there are two currently living there.

7.  According to the aquarium staff, the potbelly sea horse was removed from the aquarium, so we found another species of seahorse. It moves by slowly using it's tail to propel itself forward.

8.  The organism that closely represents the human nervous system is the Pacific Sea Nettle because it's tentacles could represent the nerves in the body  and the head of the jellyfish would represent our head and all of our nervous system sprouts from.

9. The Starry flounder is unique to other fish because of it's flat appearance. Since it is flat, it is able to lurk in the sand to hide from predators or catch their prey and because of it's colour, it camouflages well with the ocean floor. 

10. The Moon-Jellies move slowly by propelling their 'head' by contracting and relaxing. A way to describe their movement would be that they waft through the water. The Moon-Jelliies  contract and expand their head and they push water and plankton into their mouth which is how they eat.


11. The Pacific Octopus has white sunction cups on all of it's arms because they can be used to grapple onto prey or surfaces. This allows them to climb through small crevices. It is considered one of nature's best predators because of it's ability to hide.

12.  The Stellar Sea Lions eat fish and squid and hunt like most mammals do. To hunt prey, they chase down an organism in large groups.

13. The Caiman can be found in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. 

14.  The colour of the crocodile is a brown grayish colour.  This colour is perfect for the environment that it inhabits because it can camouflage with it's environment.

15.  The largest fish in the aquarium is the Arapaima. It can grow up to almost three meters long.

16. The vegetarian fish that inhabited the Amazon flooded forest is the Redhook Silver Dollar. It eats the seeds off of riverside shrubs. 

17.  Piranhas are the biggest threat to humans when we have to removing a hook in the mouth.

18. Sharks do not have any bones in their body, instead they have cartilage

19. Some of the other organisms that were living in the tank with the shark were Green Sea Turle, Blacktip Reef Shark, White Spotted Bamboo shark, Stringray, Laced Moray, Common Bluestripe Snapper, Redtail Butterfly fish, Yellowface Angelfish and the Indo-Pacific Sergeant.
20.  The Giant Red Sea Urchin's scientific name is the Strongylocentrotus Francisconus. The urchin has a body surrounded by spikes to protect it's body.

21. The Archerfish shoots a jet of water out at insects and when the insect falls into the water, they eat it.

22. The scientific name of the sea turtle in the tropic zone is the Chelonia Mydas, but people at the aquarium gave her the name 'Schoona'.
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