bitsyblatt's Journal

Today was the last full day of the quarter, and we explored the island a bit. We went to cattle point, a scenic point on the southern tip of the island. It's interesting because the scenery on this part of the island is a lot more bare than the rest of the island, which is pretty forested. We didn't really see any marine life, but it was interesting to watch the unusually turbulent water. We also went to Roche Harbor, a very small town on the island. We walked on a short forested path to a historical landmark on the island called the mausoleum. There was also an old graveyard in the forest that was becoming overgrown. It is interesting to see nature and man made objects interact in such a way.

When our final project presentations ended on Wednesday, we decided to go on a nature walk to celebrate. We went on a trail through the forest which I hadn't been on before. It was interesting to walk through the forest as the sky grew dark and the colors became dull. The presentation was the culmination of the research section of our quarter, and thinking about this fact made the walk very contemplative. It is going to be strange to live somewhere where I can't go on walks such as this through the forest whenever I want. Hopefully I can come back here or do research somewhere similar.

Two nights ago I went night lighting off the dock of Friday Harbor Labs. We put a small, bright light in the water. Unfortunately, the water was too murky from an earlier storm to see all the way to the bottom. But we still saw lots of interesting fish. There was a school of some type of fish, but they were too deep to be identified. We thought maybe they were sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus) but they seems a bit too large. Maybe some kind of smelt or herring? Some interesting fish species that we saw were the three spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus),tadpole sculpin (Psychrolutes paradoxus) and the crescent gunnel (Pholis laeta). We also saw crab larvae, what we thought to be fish larvae, amphipods of many kinds and some sort of worm swimming on the surface.

After being in Seattle for Thanksgiving weekend, I'm back in Friday Harbor for a bit more. Today I saw a red fox standing outside of our dorms. It is pretty strange to see a fox in the daylight. They are very skittish but I was looking at it for a while before it noticed me. I also went on a small nature walk. I noticed an Alaskan cedar tree (Xanthocyparis nootkatensis) in the forest when I went on a walk today, which was interesting because I haven't noticed any of those on the island yet. I couldn't get a good picture of it. Lately I haven't been observing a lot of new marine biology life, hopefully in a few days I'll be able to go night-lighting and we will see something interesting.

Last week I went bailing out a tidepool as an optional field trip. We went at 10:30 pm and I was tired and it was cold but I don't regret it. We found six Bothraganis swanni (rockhead pacher), an interesting and relatively rare fish. What makes this species unique is that it has two large holes in the back of it's head. Unfortunately these fish didn't seem to do very well after capture. There were lots of other fish, mainly various sculpins. We found some large chitons and sea anemones as well.

With the weather getting colder and homework piling up it is becoming more and more difficult to get outside and observe nature. I have been seeing some things, though. The other day I saw a bird which was identified as a sapsucker, although I don't know which species. Today I decided to take a break and go on a walk around the forests and shore of Friday Harbor Labs. In the forest, I saw plants such as oregon grape and salal. There was a wetland portion of the trail with many wetland plants and thick moss. I heard many frogs but saw none, even though I looked hard. Along the shore, I saw a harbor seal swimming in the water. Overall, it was a nice walk although I didn't observe anything particularly unique or interesting.

Yesterday our Icthyology class went on an otter trawl in the Puget Sound. It is so great to get the opportunity to see the animals in the marine environment which is usually such a mystery to us. I am surprised by the sheer number of shrimp in the Puget Sound. We caught quite a few fish but there were many more shrimp. Besides that, there were few other animals. Most fish that we caught were of the Liparidae family but we also caught quite a few flatfish and other varieties of fish as well, such as poachers and sculpins. It is interesting how different the species selection is in the small area of Puget Sound around San Juan Island depending on what part of it you look like. Jackson Beach, Dead Man's Cove and the area where we went trawling today were all very different in terms of diversity and types of fish.

Yesterday I went with a researcher, two graduate students, and my project partner who is a fellow undergraduate on a trip to look at Taylor Shellfish farms, with a focus on their mussel farming. I am currently working with my project partner on a research project testing the formation of byssal threads under different temperatures.the trip gave us a bit of insight into our project, we did learn much about aquaculture. We visited both the hatchery and one of many farming operations, with many floats out in the Hood Canal. They also farm geoducks, oysters. and clams (in California). Even at the mussel farm out in Hood Canal, there was plenty of wildlife to observe. The mussel float that didn't have workers on it was covered with harbor seals. I haven't yet seen harbor seals that close up in Puget Sound before. There were also many moon jelly fish in the water. Growing on the mussel strings were many animals, which were mainly considered pests (such as flatworms, which are a mussel parasite). Something that wasn't mentioned on the tour was the effect of pollution and anoxic conditions on the edibility of the mussels, and the affects of the farm and hatchery on the environment. It makes sense that the tour guides wouldn't talk about these issues, because they want their farm to look good. But I have heard that shellfish in Puget Sound have been found to contain toxins, and I don't know if they really should be growing and selling shellfish from this area. Another issue was that the hatchery seemed to be using huge amounts of water and bleach, which probably wasn't great for the environment. But compared to other types of farming, shellfish farming seems relatively sustainable.

The last few weeks haven't had as many wildlife observations as previous weeks, or at least, new observations. Last Wednesday, our Ichthyology class went night tide pooling. This was a new experience for me. We found a few types of fish, but mainly the same ones multiple times (Xiphister atropurpureus and mucosus, Gobiesox meandricus). Our group found one Pholis schultzi as well. I was surprised at how well the fish could survive with so little water, and how well they moved about on land. Unfortunately, it was two dark out to get any new pictures. Besides fishes, we also saw multiple Pycnopodia (species unknown) and other sea stars, hermit crabs, chitons, limpets, and snails.

This is my 3rd week on San Juan Island, at Friday Harbor Labs. As I have lived in the city my whole life, it is so nice to live somewhere with so much wildlife. Deer are about as common as people on this island. The first day I was here, I sighted some Dall's Porpoises and seals at Lime Kiln park. I have seen quite a few raccoons, and one black fox scampering along the beach at night. Looking under rocks at low tide or tires on the dock reveals many marine species. Our Icthyology class seining trip brought up many animals from the deep, some of which I have put pictures up of. I have seen some quails wandering around campus. Many of the observations I have put pictures up of are in captivity at the labs, but have all been found in Puget Sound.