bitsyblatt's Journal

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.

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.

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.

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.