Marine Ecology Fieldtrip

Saturday morning I was up at 6AM to catch the 7AM bus up to the Leigh Marine Laboratory at Goat Island Marine Reserve for Marine Ecology. Saturday's lab work was focused on ammonium and nitrite uptake by various seaweed species. We measured the amount of nutrient uptake by sampling the seawater solution and measuring the absorbance in the spectrophotometer.

On Sunday, we were quantifying diversity at the marine reserve at three different sites (Echinoderm Reef, Homosira Reef, Waterfall Reef). Echinoderm reef was by far the most interesting. We found numerous species of sea stars, a little red flatworm (which are beautiful to see swim), some little orange crabs, orange golfball sponge, and even...an OCTOPUS! It was SOOO cool! Wish I had brought my camera out to the flats to take a photo of it. It wasn't very big, but it was amazing seeing it change color to blend in with the rocks that it was trying to hide next to. A very exciting end to the field trip!

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