Cephalopodcast

“It appears to be confined to the Mediterranean Sea, where it grows, especially on the southern coast, attached to rocks at considerable depths in the sea. It is fished up from the deep by means of nets and other instruments. The manufacture of ornaments of this coral at Naples is of great extent.” — Goodrich, 1859
Source: S. G. Goodrich Animal Kingdom Illustrated Vol 2 (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1859)

It’s Deep-Sea Coral Week over at the Deep-Sea News blog, from April 27-May 3. It’s worth a look, with many interesting posts already up and many more to come each day.

Coral Clipart

The Florida Center for Instructional Technology
has made a number of antique woodcuts and engravings available online for educational use. Many of these include things zoological, including several anthozoan images.

While the license is generous, this collection could really benefit from an updated treatment with Creative Commons. Also, like most clipart collection, many of the specimens are mis-classified. For instance, larval arthropods are generously mixed in with the annelids. But those vermiform organisms were vexatious even for Linneaus (say that fast seven times).

In no particular taxonomic order

• Clipart ETC: Corals and Sea Anemone
• Clipart ETC: Sponges
• Clipart ETC: Squid and Octopus
• Clipart ETC: Worms (and caterpillars)
• Clipart ETC: Zoology A
• Clipart ETC: Sea Urchins and Sea Stars
• Clipart ETC: Sea Cucumbers
• Clipart ETC: Mollusk M - Z
• Clipart ETC: Fish S - Z
• Clipart ETC: Crustaceans

Flickr photo: dead horseshoe crab by Epsilon289
Creative Commons: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Horseshoe crabs are not really crabs at all, being more closely allied to spiders and scorpions. There are only four species in the world, but they have a fossil record dating back more than 400 million years. Their annual spawning along the east coast of the United States serves as a vital food resource for migrating birds.

At work we do a program on invertebrates for the little guys (K-2nd grade). When we hold up a horseshoe crab and ask them what it is, some invariably identify it as a stingray. When we flip the carapace over they are surprised to see the pinchers and legs. So presumably, the ray is a more familiar animal to many children. If you are a teacher interested in rectifying this matter, I encourage you to check out the many lesson plans and resources over at horseshoecrab.org.

InVERSEabrates

April is National Poetry Month and the oceans provide a lot of inspiration for verse. And one outlet for that creativity comes each year with the annual arts competition from Horseshoecrab.org.

[Horesehoecrab.org] invites students from around the world to submit poems, tales and images in appreciation and celebration of the remarkable horseshoe crab. Through the arts, our future environmental stewards have a voice which is heard globally.

The competition is open to all grade levels pre-K – 12. Students may enter through their school or can enter individually. Each year 30-50 student visual/language artworks are selected to appear in our annual anthology, “Horseshoe Crabs & the Arts.” Each of the young artists as well as their teacher receives a copy of this limited edition artist’s book. All selected works are posted on our web site in the “Poems, Tales and Images” category. In addition the works are reproduced for exhibit in our traveling art exhibition, which has been hosted in art and nature centers throughout the United States and Japan. International entrants are encouraged to help us identify art centers in their countries that may also be interested in hosting the exhibition. We welcome invitations for international display of these outstanding student works!

The competition begins each September and the deadline for entry is today. Selected artists are notified in the beginning of June.

• Horseshoecrab.org: Horseshoe Crabs & the Arts Competition
• Horseshoecrab.org: Previous competition winners (poems, art and more)
• Horseshoecrab.org: lovely anatomy of a horseshoecrab poster (34″ x 22″, $18.00 each)
• University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program: Horseshoe crabs
• PBS Nature: Crash: A Tale of Two Species. This is a video program about the horseshoe crab and the red knot. There is also an Educator’s Guide
• Windracer: Horseshoecrab Transformers
• Andrea Koupal: Anthropomorphic Horseshoecrab
• More Ocean Art Contests: Our Ocean and Coastal Ecosystems Art Competition

Eggcase from a skate. © J. Robertshaw

The Great Eggcase Hunt

With the coming of spring in the northern hemisphere also comes a time to hunt for eggs. But it’s not just about birds anymore. The folks over at the Shark Trust also want people to head to the beach to look out for the fecundity of fish.

Colloquially known as mermaid’s purses, eggcases are the protective capsules laid by skates and some rays**. Inside is a tiny baby skate and a big yolk sac. Typically the capsules have odd keels and horns to help them remain tangled in seaweed and camouflaged on the bottom. The young develop for several months before hatching out as miniature adults. But after hatching, the horny cases begin to breakdown and may come loose, washing up on the shore. Storms might also dislodge living ones from the bottom. If you find a lot of eggcases in an area, it may indicate that a skate nursery is located nearby. This kind of information is valuable to conservationist who are trying to protect these species.

Why does the Shark Trust want you to record eggcases? In recent decades several species of skate and ray around the…coast have dramatically declined in numbers…The identification of these critical areas will enable the Shark Trust to propose conservation measures, in order to reverse the decline of these charismatic animals.

So now’s your chance to contribute to skate and ray conservation and have a lot of fun at the same time.

They have a lot of resources for citizen scientists and for educators who want to organize a local eggcase hunt. And if you don’t live near the coast, you can still take some time this spring to create your own giant eggcases (PDF link) out of balloons and papier-mâché. Or better yet, make some chocolate ones that you can send to me!

• Great Eggcase Hunt
• A Fieldguide to Eggcases (PDF)
• **What’s the difference between a skate and a ray?

Rabbitfish Helping to Save the Reef

Continuing with my aquatic version of things vernal, there is news that rabbitfish might be helping to save the Great Barrier Reef. Many herbivorous reef fish species like parrotfish and tangs regularly graze on the fast-growing algae of the reefs. But apparently they only like to eat it when it’s young and not too weedy. This is where the rabbitfish comes in.

“Then, to our even greater surprise a fish we had never seen in this area before was observed grazing on the weed. The rabbitfish (Siganus canaliculatus), came out of nowhere and began to clear-fell the weed placed on the reef crest.”

The rabbitfish were caught on underwater videocams, in schools of up to 15 fish, grazing the crest, slopes and outer flats of the reef, and chomping away at more than ten times the rate of other weed-eaters.

• Red Orbit: Rabbitfish Helping to Save the Great Barrier Reef
• Science Daily: Rabbit Fish To The Rescue Of The Reef

sƎʇɐʞs ɹƎɥ :ɐ*

Camp Ocean Pines in Cambria, California has a number of workshop opportunities for educators this year. One in particular caught my eye:

Jumbo Squid Dissection, Teacher In-service February 1-3, 2008

The naturalist staff at Camp Ocean Pines have invited Dr. Bill Gilly, professor of Marine and Organismal Biology at Stanford to lead a study of these amazing squid. This is a great opportunity for hands-on experience with a 30-pound giant Humboldt squid. You’ll be studying under an expert who has researched the behavior and biology of squid for more than three decades.

Schedule
Friday, wine and cheese social and dinner before Dr. Gilly presents research and insights on the Humboldt Squid. Overnight accommodations available in straw bale cabins (with bathrooms and showers).

Breakfast Saturday morning, when Dr. Gilly will lead a dissection of Humboldt Squid. After this expert instruction, we share our experiences leading squid dissections in the classroom with students. Lesson plans and other handouts will be provided.

Lunch on Saturday and opportunity to join naturalist staff for a kayaking tour of the Morro Bay Estuary or a tour of the local elephant seals.

Saturday night join the staff for a relaxing campfire or visit the local attractions.

The weekend ends Sunday after breakfast and closing ceremony.

Open to science teachers, naturalists, docents, and marine science
educators.

Cost
Option 1 is $195/person (some partial scholarships available). Friday-Sunday, 2 nights lodging, wine reception, five great meals, instruction, kayak rental.

Option 2 is Saturday only $100/person for locals. Includes squid, instruction, lunch and dinner, evening lecture (either Friday in Cambria OR Saturday in Avila Beach).

• For more information visit www.campoceanpines.org or call (805) 927-0254
• Previously: Squidology

The 2007 Annual National Marine Educators Association Conference is under way in Portland, Maine. Sadly, I will not be able to attend NMEA this year. However, I did get a chance to present last year. My wife and I also took that opportunity to tour through New York City. Our last day was rather rainy, and somewhere in SoHo we serendipitously ducked into the Scholastic Retail Store to avoid the downpour. It was a pretty amazing space, with lots of primary colors and opportunities for young readers. I picked up a book on sharks to share with my co-workers.

Back at work, summer camp was still underway. During the first sessions the kids were asked to draw a picture of a scientist, which is pretty standard stuff*. Their efforts were posted up in the classroom and I had a chance to check in a couple of times to see the progress. Many of them initially drew the archetypal illustration of a white male in a lab coat doing something with test tubes. And it was also interesting to note how many of the younger Aquakids (students entering grades 1-4) had a hard time distinguishing between science and magic. Many of them conflated chemistry with potion making and mixed up the regalia of wizardry with that of the laboratory.

Which brings me back to Scholastic. They are the the American distributor for the Harry Potter series. Many people intuitively argue that Harry Potter is good because it gets young people reading. Others are not so sure. So one might also blame Scholastic for contributing to the confusion in the kids’ illustrations. But the picture isn’t that clear. Scholastic also has a remarkable partnership with the American Museum of Natural History called Science Explorations.

The program promises to, “engage students and teachers with authentic, hands-on science investigations with real scientists, primary documents, genuine artifacts, and standards-based science inquiries based on the Museum’s resources.” In additon to print publications, engagement currently seems to consist of a half-dozen interactive, Flash-based websites. These include exhibits on bats, bugs, space, reptiles and Charles Darwin. But naturally enough, my favorite one is Investigating The Giant Squid: Mysterious Cephalopods of the Sea. The exploration includes a virtual dissections and an interview/slideshow with Dr. Neil Landman from the AMNH. I am planning on posting this bit to TONMO (if it is not there already) because they recently started a new K-12 forum devoted to using cephalopods in education.

Science Explorations also has a section called Writing with Scientists. It offers teachers and students, “step-by-step support to transform a collection of notes, observations, research, and experiments into a well-organized, thorough, and thoughtful science report.” You can read examples of how students use the resource over here.

• *DAST: Draw A Scientist Test
• Science Explorations Teacher Guide to Investigate the Giant Squid
• TONMO K-12 Education: Cephalopod resources and information for teachers and students.
• My NMEA 2006 Flickr album
• Previously: Squidology