Invertebrates

By Catherine Drake, Invertebrate Zoology Lab

The Marine Ecology class recently boarded the our research vessel the Point Sur for a trawling expedition. The plan for this field trip was to run three—one mid-water and two benthic—trawls. The benthic zone is the lowest level in the ocean and includes the seafloor, which is a habitat that has a lot of biodiversity. So, it was expected that the nets would bring up many intriguing organisms, and they did not disappoint! The most prevalent invertebrates we captured were urchins, specifically red and heart urchins, but I want to focus on the slightly bigger invertebrates that caught my eye: three octopi!

Octopi are incredibly intelligent and have highly developed nervous systems with 500 million neurons, which to put in perspective is in the same level as cats and dogs.  Although we are unsure what species of octopus we captured, we believe that these amazing cephalopods are most likely east Pacific red octopi.  The east Pacific red octopus, Octopus rubescens, is a small octopus ranging from 40 to 50 cm in length, and researchers who study this invertebrate say that it can easily solve puzzles and has an incredible memory.  So, after the Point Sur docked, we immediately took the octopi to our aquarium room to place them in their own tanks, which we filled with toys for them!

By Michelle Marraffini Invertebrate Zoology

Saturday night Elkhorn Yacht Club graciously hosted MLML’s annual Halloween party!  This year’s party included a great number of science themed pumpkins and costumes.   Each lab is given a pumpkin the week prior to the party and asked to carve it as part of a contest.  The entries also included underwater pumpkins from the dive class.  I got the opportunity to tag along with the Scientific Dive class this past Friday and carve one of my own.  My dive partner Kristin and I struggled to hold the very buoyant pumpkin still at 20 feet depth, while we took turns using our dive knives to carve shapes into our pumpkin.  Can you guess what it is?  (Hint: we are both in the invertebrate zoology lab).

The Invertebrate Lab’s offical pumpkin, for the contest, was a carving of a cuttlefish (Photo below with one of our new students Catherine Drake).  The results from the contest have not yet been tallied but in my opinion it was the best (I may be a little biased in this area).  I just heard the results are in…we did win the pumpkin carving contest!

 

The party also included costume contests for best costume, most scientific, best faculty costume, best group costume, funniest costume, and scariest costume.   There was some stiff competition this year for most scientific including a costume of an electrophoresis gel (gel used view products from polymerase chain reaction used to amplify DNA), a whale fall costume complete with whale skeleton and invertebrates that live on or near the bones, the rocky intertidal with a limpet, barnacle and ochre seastar, a blue crab lifecycle, and a bacterial culturing experiment.   Below is a picture (Photo by Diane Wyse Physical Oceanography Lab) of the invertebrate lab’s rocky intertidal group costume, while it looked pretty good and we did not win the group costume contest. There’s always next year.  Happy Halloween!

 

by Diane Wyse, Physical Oceanography Lab

With beautiful clear days, pumpkins cozying up to lab equipment, and excited exclamations about whale sightings emanating from lab and faculty offices alike, we are feeling the spirit of the season here at Moss!  Ok, that last part was a bit of a joke– as a new student at MLML, who saw humpback whales in the Monterey Bay for the first time just last week, it would seem like this is the season to see them so close.  Not only can we watch the marine life and check the swell from our desks during study breaks, but also, whales and a whole host of exciting marine life are spotted year round from the labs.

To welcome the season, if you dare, feast your eyes upon this critter with a ghoulish name, though rather endearing and fascinating characteristics.  Did you know the vampire squid may bite off its own arm tip to evade a predator?

With a less sinister name, though no less awesome features, meet this tiny octopod from our very own Monterey Bay!

Interested in learning more?  Check out the Encyclopedia of Life page on Vampyroteuthis infernalis. 

Pumped about unusual sea creatures and want to share with friends?  The Monterey Bay Aquarium invites you to share a free Halloween e-card.

by Diane Wyse, Physical Oceanography Lab

“What was THAT?!”  I expressively gestured to my snorkel buddy, Alex.  A streak of bright green and pink that seemed to move too quickly for its blob-like shape darted through the beam of my dive light.  As we kicked through the warm moonlit water off the Lee Stocking Island dock, we came across many cool creatures that lay hidden during the daylight hours.  Driven partly by curiosity for exploration, and partly by my wild imagination for what could be lurking in the dark, I took a breath and dove down to take a closer look.  With a little patience and persistence, we spotted it again, this time stationary on a dock post, posed as though it was ready for a chase.  That beautiful animal that had caught my eye, much to my delight, was a spunky little octopus.  It was a brief but exciting first encounter with one in the wild.  To this day I am still in awe of that cryptic critter’s grace and agility.

Cephalopods (octopuses, squids, nautiluses, and cuttlefish) are predatory invertebrates found in oceans throughout the world.  They are fascinating and charismatic, with cool chromatophores that they use for camouflage and communication.

As a recent transplant from the east coast, I cannot yet speak of encounters with cephalopods while diving in the cool Pacific waters, though I am keeping an eye out for them!  A recent graduate, Erin Jensen, studied octopods during her time at Moss Landing, and you can find a post related to her research here.

Check out this neat post about cephalopods by invertebrate zoologist and echinoderm expert Dr. Chris Mah in recognition of Cephalopod Awareness Days.

Can’t get enough?  See a Giant Pacific Octopus on exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Do you have photos or stories about cephalopods?  Visit the MLML Facebook page and share!

Collecting of invertebrates is a normal occurrence along our California coast.  Bivalves like mussels are collected as a food source for many people, but are difficult to remove.  Mussels attach to the rocks by byssal threads, tiny hair like proteins, which are strong and elastic.  These have been made into fabrics, similar to silk, with byssus in the Mediterranean.  Mussel thread may be the new cotton!

Many animals in the ocean have found ways to hide or protect themselves from predators.  Some defenses include matching yourself to your surroundings to camouflage, and hiding during the day when predators are active and coming out at night instead.  Here we see examples of evolving a skeleton on the outside of your body (called an exoskeleton) or using stinging tentacles to help protect yourself from hungry predators, like fish or people!

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

The fishing practice of bottom-trawling, which involves dragging a weighted net across the seafloor to scoop up deep-dwelling fish, has some obvious downsides: the net often indiscriminately collects everything else in its path.  Despite its potential destructive consequences to marine habitats, scientists sometimes use trawling on a small scale as a collection method, and to survey what animals are present in deep areas that are otherwise hard to access.

This haul from a government fishing survey near southern California yielded a bonanza of basket stars, a type of brittle star with many branching arms.  You can also spot rockfishes, urchins, crabs and sponges amongst the catch.  Though trawling may clear a swath of the seafloor, there are few other means to collect deep-sea animals to inspect an study them.  Advances in underwater robotic technology provide one avenue for less destructive studies.

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

This bright white crustacean is a squat lobster pulled from the deep during a government fishing survey in southern California.  Squat lobsters aren’t actually lobsters at all (they’re more closely related to porcelain crabs and hermit crabs), and are much smaller than lobsters (note my finger in the photo below).  Their tucked-under abdomens and extended claws always make me imagine them doing some kind of yoga pose.  Flipping this one over indicated that it (or rather, she!) was closely guarding a clutch of bright red eggs.  Holding them close is probably a good idea – they look like they’d make a tasty snack for some predator swimming by!