Marine Biology 101

I wish I had written a blog entry every day that we were on vacation, but that probably would have been very redundant (sleep, beach, eat). One of my favorite things that we did was snorkel in the bay. I LOVE marine animals because they seem so bizarre compared to the things we see everyday. I was so excited for Presley to be able to see and touch things that she never has, and I was shocked that Will and Greg were sure that everything in the ocean bites and stings! Good thing that they had a biologist with them to tell them what things were and include the scientific names because I'm a NERD!

This is an auger snail and a Coquina. The one on the left eats the one on the right. They are found in the swash zone (where the waves are).

My sweet girl holding a starfish.

Horshoe crab. Limulus polyphemus. Their pinchers are so weak- they don't pinch, but that barb on the tail can do some damage!

Sea slug or sea hare. See the purple ink around its body? It does that when it gets mad. I think this is a black-rimmed sea slug, but it is Aplysia sp.

Variegated Sea Urchin. Lytechinus variegatus. They attach shells and grass to themselves as camouflage.

Green-banded hermit crab in an Apple Murex shell.

Tulip Snail.

Tiny hermit crab.

Just a pic of how clear the water was. Beautiful!

Stiff Pen Shell. Atina rigida 

Umbrella Algae. Acetubularia crenulata. 

Apple Murex egg cases. 

Another sea hare!

They are called sea hares because of their "rabbit ears."

Nurse shark.

Nurse shark.

Brown spiny sea star. Echinaster spinulosus. See its tube feet?

Alright guys. There will be a quiz tomorrow. Make sure you can spell those scientific names, or it will be marked wrong. Have a nice day ;)