Diario de lindsaywalls

On April fourth, 2019, our class ventured to the off-campus classrooms where the Grice Marine labs are located in Charleston, SC. The temperature reached a high of 69 degrees Fahrenheit at 2:00 p.m. and reached a low of 57 degrees earlier that morning at 6:15 a.m.. There was a 62% cloud coverage around between the times of 12-3 p.m. (duration of trip). There was a 5.1% chance of rain around 1:30 p.m., and the wind made the temperature feel slightly chilly. Humidity also accounted for less than 14% during the day. We began our trip by walking through the a knee covered area of ocean to reach a beach area where we began to examine organism. We had access to nets where we would drag the bottom of the net across the sea floor in order to capture organism and examine them. Over the course of three or four tries with the net, we discovered a few fish species such as a "Stripped Kill-fish", and "Atlantic Silverside", which are the fish that you usually observe swimming fast near the shore. It was interesting to see the various types of jellyfish that were scattered along the beach which included: "Cannonball Jelly," "Lion's Mane Jelly," "Moon Jelly," . I remember a few unique organisms that were new to my knowledge, one being a "Sandy Sea Squirt," that shorted water when it was squeezed and a "Caprellidae" family organisms that looked like a little branch. A few interesting shells that we found, some including their host, were "Eastern Mud Snails," a "Knobbed Whelk," and a "Shark Eye". After we captured organism in the net and released them, we walked up and down the shore to collect shark teeth and any other organisms that washed up. The most neat thing I collected was a 2-3 inch Tiger shark tooth!

On April 11th, 2019, I adventured to Sullivans Island (Northeast of COFC campus) for the second time with my classmates. There was a low of 59 degrees Fahrenheit around 6 a.m. and a high of 71 degrees around 3 p.m. The time we identified these organisms was between noon and 3 p.m. with temperatures ranging between 68 and 71 degrees Fahrenheit. There was a 62% cloud coverage at 1:30 p.m., and a 5.2% chance of rain around 1 p.m. The daily wind speed average was 10.1 mph. When we first got to Sullivans Island, the plan was to try and discover a certain type of lizard. However, instead we were able to identify a few common species that we have seen before such as "Sheep's Sorrel", "Pepper Vine", "Bushy Bluestem", "Dotted Knotweed", and "Beach Evening Primrose". I remember discovering a vine like organism that turned out to be "Saw Greenbriar" which had little thorns and almost looked like a grape vine. The "Twisted Leaf Yucca" also reappeared as it is distinctive and always sits on the dunes. I remember seeing a few pretty orange and yellow flowers that turned out to be "Indian Blankets" they were very bright in appearance and surrounded by many other organisms. We also identified "Red Mulberry" which has little red Berrys that look like crab apples. Lastly, I remember looking across the dune area in between the houses and the ocean and seeing a vast amount of "Wax Myrtles" that were all cut evenly so residence could still have an ocean view. Even though we did not find any of the lizards we were looking for, we found its feces which was composed of black ants! However, someone spotted a little sand frog catching some sun on this beautiful day!

Our class was given the chance to go out on a DNR boat and catch organisms on April 18th, 2019, with beautiful weather surrounding us. There was a low of 60 degrees Fahrenheit around 6 a.m. and a high of 72 degrees at 2:15 p.m. (middle of the time spent on the boat). There was a 64% cloud coverage around noon, however, I remember the sky being absolutely clear and blue and bright. There was only a 5.4% chance of precipitation around 1 p.m. and an average wind speed of 10.0 mph throughout the day. We went to the Grice marine laboratories for take off and adventured to three different spots in the Charleston harbor. The first spot we went to was just a few miles off the shore and I remember it being 23 ft deep! During the first catch it was unbelievable seeing all the organisms such as "Sea Robins" which looked like aggressive little fish but were gentile and "Porcelain Crabs" which were in fact very small. Here, we also identified "Drums," and "Atlantic Croaker", they were very shiny in appearance and looked like a fat minnow. The coolest catch of the first haul was a "Stripped Burrfish," which was yellow and brown striped with little spines poking out of its back. It was very exciting to see this and see it puff up. The second catch was definitely the most eventful however, especially when it began with catching a stingray. On the second haul we identified another pufferfish called a "Northern Puffer" it looked like a regular small fish when it wasn't puffed! We also identified a "Northern Clingfish" which had amazing suction to the tables! We also caught lots of "Brief Squids" which I learned change colors in your hand because of chemicals, it was very neat to see it change before my eyes. The most unique organisms we identified was a little reddish orange octopus that I classified as common, because I am not completely sure. However, everyone was amazed to see it swim and ink! The third catch my phone sadly died, however, there were mostly repetitive species that were found in the other catches such as "Atlantic Blue Crabs", "Atlantic Horseshoe Crabs", "White Shrimp", and also " Windowpane Flounder" which were completely colored on one side and then see through on the other with two eyes on one side! Some other neat organism was a "Tonguefish" that truly looked like a big tongue, and a "Brittle Star" that was a small starfish covered in sand. This trip was an excellent ending to the great semester we had identifying and learning as much as we could about the nature around us!