First Day means First Blog!


After a long day of traveling yesterday, we woke up early to catch the low tide near CEDO! We walked down to the beach which is only about a 5 minute walk away, and we started looking for creatures closer to the water. That way we would be able to catch the organisms that would be submerged by the tide would be seen. As we looked around the shore we could see that most organisms were hiding in the little tide pools, and under rocks, and in the most wet spots that they could.We later learned in a lecture today that these organisms hide in the wettest places to breathe and to maintain water, to eat, and move around, or basically to survive until the water reaches them again. The organisms we caught were mostly epifauna, or animals that live on top of the substrate surface like the rocks and sand that was there. We also learned from the lecture that we get to experience mixed semi diurnal tides this week as the tides will have mixed high and low points throughout each day.  

                                                          

Tonight we had dinner at a new place called Sr. Amigo, which was very yummy! We actually saw a few birds, and a cat on the shore beneath us, and Dr. C made a good point that shore birds aren't the only predators for intertidal communities! Today was so much fun actually being able to observe these organisms in the field, and to be able to then use the real world examples we see in our lectures as well. I'm looking forward to using the experiences I have in the presentation on Arthropods, and to see how much more I can identify on our trip to Vina Del Mar tomorrow, and when we kayak in the Moria Estuary! 

This is Liza Woolsey signing off for now!

Comments

  1. Peter B.May 13, 2025 at 7:42 AM

    With a sea cucumber, urchin, starfish in the tidal pool video, seems redundant that you needed to go to a restaurant to get something to eat…Ah, well. Be the good stewards of the Gulf of California that you are and catch and release!

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