Thursday, January 31, 2013

Feather Duster Worm

Real name is Sabellidae, but nick named after a feather duster for its unique shape and almost identicfal to a underwater feather duster. Feather duster worms are members of the Phylum annelida, the segmented worms, which includes the common earthworm. The feather dusters belong to the class Polychaeta, one of the four classes of annelids. They build tubes out of parchment, sand, and bits of shell. An insteresting fact is that Feather duster worms reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction involves the release of gametes into the water where the fertilized eggs develop into free-swimming larvae that eventually settle in an appropriate habitat.
      Also they periodically shed their crown, leaving the novice aquarist horrified and believing the precious creature has died. These species occur only where they typically receive moderately strong laminar water currents, and typically do not stay in the same area their whole life. 



 

Monday, January 28, 2013

Instruments under the Ocean



Biological Nansen Bottle- Racks on side for reversing thermometers that record temperature of water when rotated 180 degrees (thus, when bottle rotates, temperature at that depth is recorded)

Chemical test kit- helps test the waters in the ocean to figure out what chemicals are present.


JZ Bacterialogical Bottle-Water is sampled in a sterile container for bacterial examination



Wash Bucket- use to discover and examine organisms caught


Transects- transects are done by recording all organisms touching the line, strip transects are done by recording all organisms within a certain distance of the line, and spot transects are done by recording all organims found at certain points along the line.

Bob Ballard


Bob Ballard discovered the titanic at the bottom of the ocean, also found the sunken German battle ship Bismarck and numerous others.  . During his long career he has conducted more than 120 deep-sea expeditions using the latest in exploration technology.  former United States Navy officer and a professor of oceanographer at the University Rhode Island.  With out Bob Balard exploring the ocean , we would have never discovered the Titanic.  We explore to discover more about the earth and its history.