Nicole+Taniguchi'+Journal+Page

== =First Visit Details: =   



Free Journal:
 Ka’iwi Scenic Beach Park is nestled right next to Sandy’s Beach, after taking a short ten minutes hike through a somewhat secret getaway. Ka’iwi Beach Park is mainly comprised of rigid, dark brown tide pools that cover the majority of the space, with larger pools near the ocean and smaller ones closer to shore. Some of rocks farther out and deeper in the ocean were dark brown towards the top, and gradually turned green from the algae and seaweed that grew, which turned into a pink color, where the waves often hit, making the rock raw. Rough waves pound into the rocks to make it raw and it fills the pools with ocean water for the many creatures that live there. The sand that lies on the bottom of the tiny pools is grainy and is important for the creatures to live and hide. The cool water makes it comfortable for the living creatures, even though it is sunny.

Even with such a large area, there are quite a few different species, but barely any compared to the amount of space and habitat Ka’iwi is about to hold. But it makes space for evolving species and new species that will find their way to Ka’iwi. The pools are mainly filled with hermit crabs and sea snails. Both, black and grayish, brownish mudskippers swim around the tide pools. Most of the underwater pools are covered in either green or orangey moss-like algae or seaweed. Purple sea urchins are attached to the pink rocks that are farther out into the ocean. But the one, unusual thing that was found out of the water were red and white crab shells that just laid on the dry tide pools.

Ka’iwi Scenic Beach Park is a good place to “study” over the remainder of this semester because it is home to a wide range of species, from hermit crabs, to even orange algae. There is also a wide range of abiotic factors in different parts of this eco-place, like the ever-changing tide and sunlight that affect the living creatures. Like most beaches and tide pools, the range of species is affected by the time of day, which affects the waves and tide that pushes different species into the pools. Ka’iwi Beach also includes the ocean outside of the tide pools that our group will explore on another visit. Since, in Ka’iwi Beach, there is a variety of species, we are able to explore, observe, and infer about many organisms that live in the tide pools of Ka’iwi. 

Assigned Journal:
 Many species live in the tide pools of Ka’iwi Beach. The most common organisms were hermit crabs and sea snails that live in the shallow and cool water of the tide pools. Hermit crabs use second hand shells from many sea snails, which also have a soft, vulnerable body. Most of the hermit crabs at Ka’iwi Beach Park were about the size of a penny with black, spiraling shells to protect them selves. Inside, their bodies consisted of orange feelers, black and white lined legs and blue eyes. The hermit crabs are skilled at tucking themselves in their shell when a predator is coming, like a human or even a wave.

Another creature that lives in the tide pools of Ka’iwi Beach are mudskippers. In the smaller, and shallower pools, closer to land, small, about one-inch mudskippers swim. But the larger, thicker mudskippers, who are about 1.5 to 2 inches swim and live in the deeper, larger pools. All mudskippers have a dark color, black, brown or gray or even a mixture of them all to protect themselves from predators. With this colored skin, the mudskippers are able to camouflage themselves with their surroundings of the dark, rigid rocks and sand.

The most unusual species found at the tide pools was the orange algae. The algae grows off of underwater pools, both large and small, in size. Sunlight didn’t affect the growth at all, because there was a plentiful amount in the open, where it is able to get a lot of sunlight and also, where it was shady, surrounded by taller rocks that protected it from the sun. Other, species, like mudskipper can benefit from this growth to hide themselves from any predators.

Lastly, the purple urchin that is found on the pink rock, where waves continuously beat it until the brown rock turns pink. The urchins have a hard shell-like outside to protect them from abiotic factors like the waves and biotic factors like predators. With this hard and ark shell, it makes eating them very difficult. The pink section on the rocks of Ka'iwi and have algae growing on them, which is why the urchins are attracted to those habitats. Urchins mainly eat algae and seaweed; therefore it is reasonable that they live on those pink rocks, where their food is only a few inches away.  =Second Visit Details: = 



Free Journal:
<span style="color: rgb(247, 105, 174);"> The creatures found at Ka'iwi Beach, this visit were slightly different. Like the last time, the mudskippers and hermit crabs still rest in the tide pools of all sizes. But in general, the big mudskippers swam around in the big pools and the small mudskippers in the small pools. Do mudskippers find their way to appropriate pools? O r do they grow to fit their pool?

Like always, many black-shelled and grayish-whitish hermit crabs were crawling around in various tide pools. This time, I found an extra large hermit crab that had a shell that was about 2 inches wide and 2 inches long. After closely examining the shells, they both spiral upwards, like most other shells. But what is the reason for this spiral-shaped shell? Most of the crabs themselves had orangey-red pinchers with dark colored bodies. Why are their bodies this color that is able to camouflage, but bright pinchers that are very noticeable? Is there a different gender, therefore sexual selection is occurring? Why do hermit crabs choose different kind of shells, not just the black ones or the white ones? This time, I found an exra large hermit crab that had a shell that was abour 2 inches wide and 2 inches long. What kind of habitat does a hermit crab need in order for it to grow to such a big size? This particular crab was resting a very large pool that opened to the ocean. Does that affect their ability to find food or their ability to find the appropriate shell for their size?

Another creature that roams around the tide pools of Ka’iwi are the opipi. This species shares the same shell as many small hermit crabs, the black spiraling shell. Even though opipi are so slow, if moving at all, how do they survive? Is it their ability to camouflage with the dark rock? Their hard shell is used as very hard protection? Is there any predation for them to need to protect?

This visit, I found a handful of whitish, orangey anemone nestled inside of very small pools, mainly in the corners and in deep crevices. The color of the anemone blended in with the color of the sand, a light tan. Do anemone survive with their ability to poison predators, while camouflaging with the sand? After millions of generations, will species develop poison, or another way to protect them against anemone?

<span style="color: rgb(247, 105, 174);">Assigned Journal:
<span style="color: rgb(247, 105, 174);"> During this second visit to Ka’iwi Beach, I noticed that there were many similarities and differences within species. For example, the mudskippers varied in color, from light gray to dark gray with white spots. These variations helpful to the mudskipper hide from predators beneath the sand and the dark colored rocks that form the pools. Though some, not all the mudskippers were a very dark gray, or the light gray, this means that the mudskippers are still evolving, and in time this characteristic of their color will be prevalent to all mudskippers, since it probably helps them to be more “fit”.

Another variation was with the hermit crabs. Most of the hermit crabs were black, with orangey-red pinchers, but I found some with black pinchers. The hermit crabs are going though evolution, in that their pinchers will all be that same orangey-red color. But this variation may be helpful or not. This bright color is very conspicuous, and probably attracts predators and humans like me. But, like the male peacock, this bright, extravagant color, might be very important in attracting others to mate. Their bright colored pinchers also may be a sign of danger, to scare away other creatures, protecting themselves, without having to do very much.

Sea cucumbers are another example of heritable variation at Ka’iwi beach. Their slow moving body is not necessarily the best, making it easy for predators to find and destroy them. But sea cucumbers may use their sticky skin to protect themselves, as a way to repel predators. The sea cucumbers found in the pools of Ka’iwi were dark, with white spots on then, making camouflaging easy. Their stickiness is able to bond very well, observed from one cucumber that was attached to seaweed, making them more “fit”. Since sea cucumbers are able to defend themselves, they are able to survive, without being able to move very fast during the day.

Lastly, the anemone, which was found in the small pools of Ka’iwi, are another example of heritable variation. The anemone that I found was partially buried in sand to camouflage their sand colored body. The body was textured to look like sand, making them more “fit” and was positioned in the corners and crevices of the pool to conceal them selves, making it hard for species, like mudskippers and even humans to spot.

<span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);"> =<span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);">Third Visit Details: = <span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);">

<span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);">Free Journal:
<span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);"> On this third visit to Ka'iwi Beach, mostly everything was the same. The gray mudskippers were swimming in thier size appropriate pools, while camouflaging with the sand and rocks in their tide pools. Like the question previously asked, do mudskippers grow accordingly to the tide pool that they live in, or do they find certain sized tide pools? I think the mudskippers grow accordingly to the tide pool, like myth, that some people believe, fish grow to the size of their tank. If small mudskippers are in small pools and big mudskippers are in big pools, therefore mudskippers grow accordingly to their tide pools because thier size fit appropriately with the size of their pool. But since all of my three visits have been around the same time, the waves were calm, meaning that the water in the tide pools were flat. Therefore, the mudskippers, along with other creatures stayed in their tide pool, without having the chance to move to another pool.

Also at Ka'iwi Beach, as usual, the hermit crabs were crawling around the partially dry areas of the black tide pools. Always ready to hide from any suspicious predator, the hermit crab's orangey-red pinchers are always visible. But why would the hermit crab have such bright pinchers, if it is such a vulnerable creature? Perhaps, the bright color notifies all creatures, predator or not that it can be dangerous. And just in case, the hermit crab can hide and shield itself in it's strong, hand-me-down shell from opipi. If a hermit crab has bright, orangey-red pinchers, then it notifies other animals of its dangerous abilities because reddish colors are often a sign of hazard.

A creature that was first found on the second visit was the light colored anemone. I found this to be unusual to see a sand-color anemone, but after thinking about it, it is able to camouflage with the sandy tide pool bottoms. Unlike the hermit crabs, this species of anemone is able to hide in the crevices and sit beneath the sand. Since they are so hard to spot, especially to the human eye, the anemone is able to hurt all creatures who come close. So, if the anemone is a sandy color, then it will be able to hide in the sandy tide pools. This variation is probably natural selection because many anemones are still vibrant colors, where prey can easily spot them.

I also noticed that there are very few species in the small tide pools, verses the large tide pools. The small ones mainly only have mudskippers, hermit crabs and opipi. But the larger ones have mudskippers, hermit crabs, opipi, sea cucumbers, anemone, larger unknown fish, very large hermit crabs and more algae for the creatures. If the tide pools are larger, in width and in depth, then there will be more available niches, resulting in more species. <span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);">

<span style="color: rgb(80, 231, 107);">Assigned Journal:
=<span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);">Fourth Visit Details: = = =

<span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);">If the tide pool is larger, then there will be more available niches, resulting in a wider range of species.
<span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> This last time at Ka'iwi Beach, all the same creatures were abundant in the tide pools. I began my observations by measuring tide pools that varied in size. Then watching each tide pool for several minutes, I counted the number of organisms within the particular tide pool, observing their reactions and movement. In the largest tide pool, an assortment of sizes of mudskippers, opipis, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, sea slugs, manini, and this other unknown fish filled it. This 30 x 30 feet tide pool had the most wide variety of animal life of the tide pools I observed. Normally, the mudskippers swimming around were about 1-3 inches long, but today, there were several large mudskippers whose length was about 7 inches. The small mudskippers had very fast reflexes, being able to quickly swim away from predators. On the other hand, the larger mudskippers just stay motionless in the water, even if a predator, like me comes close. It is surprising that there are several still alive, since they are so vulnerable to danger. <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> Also in this specific pool, there were about 8 manini, about 2-3 inches long. Their gray and black stripes make them pretty hard to see, since they are able to camouflage with the rocks and sand. The manini were much more brave, in a sense, that they would peak out of holes in the pools, and swim around for a while, while the other unknown fish, possibly a surgeonfish would quickly peek out and swim back in with great speed. This shy fish has a bright yellow fin on the top of them, attracting predators or repelling them by notifying them that they are dangerous. <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> The most interesting creature found in all three visits was found on this visit. A 1 foot long sea cucumber was found in this large tide pool, lying down, eating seaweed. By observing by looking, the sea cucumber looked very sticky, to be able to balance without falling over. In the video, the cucumber was flipped over, and is slowly moving back, while eating a piece of seaweed. <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);"> In a very small, 3 feet x 1.5 feet tide pool nearby, the only animal life were about 27 hermit crabs. This infers that the smaller the tide pool, the less available niches, meaning the less amount of different species and the bigger the tide pool, the more diverse the species are. <span style="color: rgb(248, 171, 104);">