Sea mollusks

Some sea snails breeding and laying eggs at Seahurst Park, Seattle, WA.


Also a mystery sea creature. I have no idea what it was, and two other professors didn't know either. It was found in the middle region of the rocky intertidal zone, under a rock in a tidepool. I think it's some kind of mollusk, but had no identifiable nudibranch features... it didn't move at all and had nothing that easily resembled a foot, mouth, tentacle or "gill." It would only open it's "wings" for lack of a better word, two flaps on the sides of its body. If anyone has a hint or idea, by all means let me know.

ROV Resurrection

We have to do quarter-long projects in my Marine Biology class, and some friends of mine in the class--John, Mike, and Wayne--decided they wanted to fix a remote controlled vehicle (ROV) that the professor had and do some underwater surveys with it. Not only did they repair it and make it more efficient, they painted it yellow and added some legs on it for landing on the bottom. All in all, a fantastic piece of work.

On Saturday we went to Elliot Bay Marina to do a survey. Our friend and Mike's girlfriend Katie came along for moral support and to enjoy the sun. Enjoy some pictures below.

Adjusting the weights on the ROV. You can see the red and white pumps that propel it and the silver camera on top. (You can't tell in the picture, but the ROV was trembling with excitement at feeling the sweet marine water against its PVC legs.)


Me, holding the cord so it doesn't drag down the ROV. I also controlled another camera that was in the water to record the ROV recording critters...

There were tons of jellies in the water since summer and primary production is quite on its way. Wayne picked up a Water jelly and Katie was amazed that it didn't sting him. Priceless facial expressions here, lol.

Mike manned the controls to the ROV while looking at the television hooked up to the ROV's camera. John looked on much like he does while they're playing Halo (and they play a lot of Halo).

My personal project was on the human-aided dispersal of tunicates (sea squirts), so I wasn't officially part of the ROV team. But, as the guys said, I was with them throughout it all "like the fifth Beatle."

Biology Award 2009

This morning I went to a brunch put on by the Biology Department for graduating seniors at Anthony's in Ballard. It was basically a chance to mingle and talk with the faculty while drinking coffee and eating crab and cheddar cakes (yum).

The department chair also gave out two awards, one for academic excellence and smartness in biology, which my good friend Katie got (she definitely deserved it, too). The other award was given to me-- the "Biology Award: An excellent role model, biological citizen and possessing the exceptional characteristics of a biology major."

With it came an excellent book by David Attenborough called "Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery."

It's basically a book with historical biology illustrations from people like Leonardo Da Vinci and John James Audubon. It took me a while to get that it was specially picked out for the artist of the graduating class. :)