Flipping Rocks
Earlier in the quarter, we went to Dead Man's Cove to flip rocks over and see what kind of fish lived underneath them. What we discovered is that there are actually a lot of fish that live underneath rocks! I wasn't convinced that we would find anything, but that's not what happened. We found Anoplarchus, Atropurpureus, and Pholis ornata and Pholis laeta. They are all very similar looking, and I assume that this means they are also similar functioning, and that is why we found them together under rocks on the beach at 11:30 at night. I also went wading in the water and saw the bioluminescence that happens when you disturb and splash the water. I witnessed an enormous Pyncnopodia hiding in a crevice between some rocks, and also found a lot of crabs among the rocks as well. I found blood stars and chitons, and some hermit crabs. The shore is remarkably wet and remarkably alive at the late hours of the night, and it's during this time that we went. There was a ton of fucus and Ulva lactuca. The shore is healthy and diverse with plant and animal life. I was most surprised that the anguilliforms mentioned earlier could live after being stuck under a rock for hours at a time. This is one of the many wonders of Fish that I have learned about while here this quarter.
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