Cephalovlog #5: 25 Signals in the Rain from Jason Robertshaw on Vimeo.
As Rick mentioned, I picked up a Flip Mino
Archive for the 'Cephalovlog' Category
![About two dozen, bean-sized, colorful clams held in the right hand, slightly underwater [300x225, 104K]](http://cephalopodcast.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/coquina2.jpg "Florida Surf Clams (aka, Coquina)")
Florida Surf Clams (aka, Coquina, Donax variabilis), © Jason Robertshaw
What the Shell Is That? is my series on beachcombing and tidal life. Living on the west coast of Florida, it is mostly about shells, but can also be about other flotsam, fauna and even flora.
Note:
This is a bonus, double-feature entry. You get the WSIT #5 and Cephalovlog #4 combined in one.
Florida Surf Clams (aka, Coquina, Donax variabilis)
Date: 6 April 2008
Location: Siesta Key, Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A.
All along the surf.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Bivalvia
Order: Veneroida
Family: Donacidae
Genus: Donax
Coquina Clams (Donax variablis)
Report:
Surf clams, also called Coquina, are bean-sized (2 cm), colorful bivalves that make their living in one of the most challenging habitats, the surf zone. They are filter feeders, extending their siphons into the water as it washes over them. As the wave pulls back out, they are often exposed at the surface and have to quickly put their muscular foot down to scoot back beneath the sand. It seems like a very energetically expensive way to make a living and it’s surprising they get enough nutrients from just filtering bacteria and algae out of the water (but still further proof that even the tiniest mollusks are tough enough to whip any echinoderm’s hiney).
The clams, in turn, are an important food source for shorebirds. People seem to like them too, but personally I have never eaten them before. The shells of these animals also accumulate over time and mix with other sediment to form a consolidate material called Coquina rock. It is used as a building material throughout Florida.
![Small marine worm held on a finger. [100x75, ?K]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3279/2400313288_a16abea3ca_t.jpg)
Something else that was remarkable, and requires more investigation, was the presences of hundreds of small marine worms. You can see a close up in the video about half way through. These worms would suddenly appear in the hundreds, wriggling after a wave wash, only to disappear instantaneously beneath the sand.
Cephalovlog #4: 60 Second Surf
I borrowed the Sanyo Xacti E1 from work for a field test. This little camera is immersible to 5 meters. I did not need to send it that far down to video these little guys, as they are in the wash zone of the beach. Video was edited in iMovie and scored in Garageband. Note, this is not time-lapse footage. The clams really do dig that fast.
Donax me
blip.tv | CephalouTube
References
- Ruppert, Edward and Richard Fox. Seashore Animals of the Southeast. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. pp. 158.
- Witherington, E., Blair and Dawn Witherington. Florida’s Living Beaches. City: Pineapple Press (FL), 2007. pp. 109.
Additional Links
- YouTube: Cephalovlog #5
- Wikipedia: Donax
- Wikipedia: Coquina rock
- SeashellGuide.com: Coquina: Catching “Butterflies”
- FL Fish and Wildlife Research Institute: Coquina Clams
Last Sunday was International Rock-Flipping Day. I made another 60 second video highlighting some of our discoveries. It’s a little choppier production, since I only had the Powershot A95 (movie setting). Once again, edited with iMovie and scored in Garageband.
And remember kids, every day is IRF Day!
- Official IRFD declaration
- Flickr: International Rock-Flipping Day photo pool
- Previously: International Rock-Flipping Day is September 2
![BioJar [400x300, 38K]](http://www.cephalopodcast.com/img/pic/pic_070805_BioJar.jpg "The BioJar, tabletop biosphere project from Make magazine")
Make magazine has instructions on building your own miniature aquatic biosphere. I took the weekend challenge and made my own using specimens from a retention pond near work. There were snails and crustaceans in abundance, including grass shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.), amphipods (aka, scuds) and copepods.
![Make:Biosphere - completed project [100x75, 6.5K]](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1412/1021494584_e93a2d2a6b_t.jpg "Make:Biosphere - completed project")
The instructions call for the use of a sea shell to help with buffering. I thought I would be smart and use a small deer antler instead. It looked good at first, but I never properly degreased the thing, so the set up went south pretty quickly. I removed the antler and restarted with a little crushed coral gravel. I also added the iconic econaut refuge (orange diver) and a little bit of hornwort purchased from the pet store.
Cephalovlog #2: 60 Seconds of Green Pond Scum
I made a little video featuring some of the critters. I used a jeweler’s loupe held next to my Canon ZR500 and Powershot A95 (movie setting) to get close-up shots of them in action. It was edited with iMovie and scored in Garageband.
Lessons Learned
Needless to say, this is a great lesson in ecosystem management. Unlike an aquarium, the tabletop biosphere is a closed system. All nutrients must cycle from the plants (producers) to the animals (consumers) and back again (via decomposers/bacteria). A well balanced biosphere can last a couple of years, with some commercial manufacturers claiming systems that have run for ten years or more.
In addition to the articles from Make, there are several lesson plans out there for starting biospheres in the classroom. It might be interesting to get students started with these at the beginning of the year and see which ones last the longest. See the links below for more ideas.
Tendrils
I also wanted to highlight another sources of inspiration for this project. It is an aquascaping photoblog simply called Green. I encourage you to marvel at the beautiful macro photography of Marcus Wallinder’s miniature worlds. And if its zen-like, award-winning design inspires you, then here are more than 130 palettes to “help you get your green on” too.
- Make: Tabletop Biosphere, with resource citations
- Make a Tabletop Biosphere - Make: PDFcast
- Make a Tabletop Biosphere - Make: Video Podcast
- Home Made Biospheres
- Make Labs Biosphere & more!
- Lesson plans (Ohio): It’s a Small World After All! (Pond Microcosms)
- Lesson plans: Examining the Human Impact on our Environment
- Water on the Web: Microcosm Setup and Sample Collection Instructions
- Bottle Biology
- BBC/OU Open2.net: DIY Science - Ecospheres
- Make your own homemade ecosphere
- The Miracle Whip Microcosm
- Ecobottle Investigations
- Green: aquascape photoblog
- Best Of Color Inspiration: 130+ Green Color Palettes
- Flickr: Biosphere symbol/label
- Flickr: My BioJar photos
- Previously: Tiny Lightbulb Tanks
Sticking a tentative tentacle into the world of video podcasting. This first one is something of a test.
60 Second Sunset, Siesta Key, Sarasota, FL
Shot on 07/28/2007 with my peewee Canon ZR500. Edited with iMovie and scored in Garageband. Inspired by this series 60 Seconds in the Life of the Galapagos Islands over at Ironic Sans.
BTW, my buddy SB just coined a new word tonight. I was asking him about youth culture and the balkanization of all these social networking sites. He said that geeks go to blip.tv and the “general public & yutes go YT [YouTube].” So there you have it:
yutes |yoōts|
noun
1. [informal] plural for young adults.
2. [slang] YouTube enthusiasts (often obsessive youths).
youts
British spelling of yutes
Jason Robertshaw
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