Oct.+14

Free Journal Entry:
The place that Heather and I chose is teeming with life. There are dozens and dozens of tide pools. Closer you get to water edge the more lively the tide pools get. The tide pools the farthest in are manly only a little bit filled water and barely have any life. The currents bring fresh salt water into the tide pools. This can also bring other new small life into the tide pools. After looking in several tide pools I found that there were certain organisms in about each one. I first found many hermit crabs. Each crab’s shell was black with gray streaks going horizontally across it. Each one has about six legs, three on each side, that are a reddish brown with skinny white strips that go around them. Their eyes are a sky/baby blue. If you tap the shell the hermit crab will immediately curl its body into its shell to protect itself from any predator. Another organism I found were small guppie fish. These fish are black and tan spotted. I believe that they are colored like this so that they can blend in with the sand and rock. This is important for them because camoflouge is a protection against predation. Spread across many of the rocks are small groups of long skinny cone-shaped shells with gray lines swirling up to the point of the shell. I found these at the waters edge of a tide pool and also on dry rocks. If you pick the shell off of the rock you will find that inside of it is a little squishy organism. I don’t completely know what these are but I plan to find out. When you pick the shell of the rock it is a little difficult because the organism is trying to stick to the rock. This could be viewed as a measure of caution against predators but I don’t think so because if it was the suction would be a lot greater. One more organism that I found were these succulents. These succulents were living right next to the tide pools and in some cases in the tide pools. I’ve never seen anything like them before. It is like they are accustomed to the harsh conditions of the ocean. The ocean is constantly crashing against the rocks and the wind is always going strong. The tide pools are barely ever still with these two natural elements constantly going.

Assigned Journal Entry:
In my eco-place I found four very different organisms. The first organism that I found in the tide pools was hermit crabs. There were dozens and dozens all spread out through the tide pools. They have blackish gray shells and inside those shells they have six legs, three on each side, that are reddish brown with little white strips running up them horizontally. I tried picking up one of them and as soon as I touched its shell the hermit crab pulled itself into the shell. This was an action of protection against any predator. The niche of a hermit crab is quite simple. They live in one tide pool. And in this tide pool there is sand, alge, and other small fish. As I was observing the hermit crabs I noticed that they’re food is the alge that grows in their little tide pool on the rocks. Another organism that I found was the sea snails. In almost every single tide pool there was at least a small group of about two or three of the sea snails. The sea snails have long cone shaped shells that are a grayish white with gray spirals going to the very tip of the shell. The niche of the sea snail is similar to the hermit crab for the exception of what they eat. I found the sea snails in the water, at the edge of the water and on dry rock. This puzzles me because I’m not sure how they can get food in those three very different conditions. I tried to pull of one of the sea snails from the rock. It was suction cupped to the rock. I think this is a protection against predators because it makes it harder for the predator to get to the actual sea snail. Another organism that lives in the tide pools was small guppy fish. This fish are black and tan so that they blend in with the surrounding sand and rocks in the tide pools. They pretty much have the exact same niche as the hermit crab. But they eat alge and other very small sea life that can be washed into their tide pool from the ocean by the waves that are constantly crashing over the tide pools. The fourth organism I found was a very peculiar succulent. This succulent wasn’t just growing on the shore next to the tide pools but actually on the rocks and in the tide pools. Unlike other plants this succulent seems to be able to endure the harsh conditions that come from the ocean.