Matt's+Journal

MATT TANIGUCHI'S JOURNAL PAGE:

Visit #1 : Free-write Walking towards the tide pools, you can see sea plants and sand-covered rocks below you. Turn your head forward, and you see the horizon, and you can also see Rabbit Island sitting so peacefully. And of course to your right, you can the beach where people are hanging out, and body boarding. As you walk on the rocky grounds of the tide pools, you notice that there are big holes in the rocks. If you take a look into the holes, you will see tiny life forms such as tiny snails. Keep walking, and the tide pools will finally be right in front of your eyes. You look back, then down, and you notice all these crab remains, probably occuring from predation. You finally reach one of the main tide pools, realizing that these tide pools are huge, and you can see bigger life forms such as fish and crabs. You take very detailed notes on every single thing you see, and finally, you feel you are done. You walk back the same way you entered, and when you reach your car and turn around, you can see everything. What actually happened... I got out of my car really tired, the waves were crashing upon the front of the tide pools, splashing great amounts of water into the pools. It was about 11 AM. I walk through the pathways, and onto the rocky grounds of the smaller tide pools. I look down, noticing some tiny life forms like snails, as I take a few notes on them. As I keep walking, I feel the big cracks on the rocks, and notice that some of them have been made into tiny tiny tide pools, because I saw life forms in there. I look closer, and I see a few types of fish, and tiny snails moving about. Then, the sounds of the crashing waves gradually get louder as I move closer to the main tide pools. Finally reaching the major portion of the tide pools, I notice that the life forms here, and nothing like the life forms in the smaller tide pools. I notice that in the larger tide pools, there are different kinds of fish, and also I see crabs. I lean over, trying to get a closer look at the fishes, but they swim away into their little hiding places under the rocks where I stand. Finally giving up, I take final notes regarding everything I saw. I walk back up towards my car, and look back at all the tide pools. I notice, I can see everything.

Assigned #1: It seemed like the tide pools are actually divided into two sizes, because the main tide pools were a lot bigger than the sub tide pools. Sub-tide pools: I didn't see much fish, except for tiny ones that are blending in with the sandy/rocky bottoms of the tide pools. I looked around, and other things I see, are litter, and crab remains due to human environmental destruction and predation. I noticed each time I bent down, the fish saw me, and were swimming farther and farther away. I also noticed small snails, guppies, and other small crab life forms. Big birds and big fish are unable to get to these smaller organisms as I only see small life forms here, because the niche is fit for only small organisms. I think maybe that's why there are almost all small life forms, because the niche is very petite, and it makes a perfect home for them. Main tide pools: The first thing I notice, are fish that are much larger than the ones in the sub-tide pools. The pools are much bigger, so I expected to see a lot more variety of living organisms inside. It was disappointing to me because whenever I leaned over the rocks, or I moved closer towards the pool, the fish would swim away into their hiding places. This caused me be unable to really tell how many kinds of fish were in the tide pool. My dad taught me a trick though, and it was to lean over, but stay as still as possible, and sooner or later, the fish would come out. The trick worked, and I finally saw what I was looking for. There were many kinds of fish, but I couldn't really identify them with names or anything, except for one of them. The one I recognized was a tiger tilapia fish, and it was just cruising around with another one. Another fish I saw, was one that blended in with the bottom of the tide pool. It actually caught me by surprise at first, because it was a very quick-moving fish, and it blended so well that I couldn't even see it. I saw smaller versions of this fish, so I thought maybe the smaller ones come down to the bigger pool, once they feel they are big enough not to get eaten. A last fish I saw, was a skinny, long, swiftly moving black fish, but I couldn't tell what it was. I'm not exactly a fish expert. This particular fish had a very thin tail, and it seemed like it was really swimming like any other fish, because it seemed as if only the tail was moving, and not the whole fish. In conclusion, I think the tide pools here offer a selected, narrow amount of niches, because there were not many different kinds of life forms living there.