The Black Rock Intertidal Zone

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The Black Rock Intertidal Zone
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The view towards Harbourville. Note the steep
cliffs created by wave and tidal action over the
years.
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The Upper Zone of the Fundy Shore
The upper zone is characterized by green and blue
green seaweeds. Animal life is limited due to the
harsh abiotic conditions such as desiccation and
salinity.
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Classic Upper Zone Take note of the green
slippery algae over the rocks and the lack of
Knotted Wrack and Fucus. Imaging the baking
effects of the sun on this algae. That is why it
is slippery as it has a jelly layer to prevent
drying out.
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Tidepools of the Upper Zone
Sea Lettuce
Enteromorpha
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Is this the upper zone? What is that thing
anyway???
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The Middle Zone of the Fundy Shore
Upper Zone
Middle Zone
Note the change in vegetation in this picture.
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Middle Zone Tidepool This pool is surrounded by
Knotted Wrack and has some pink Lithothamnium and
Irish moss. It is a middle zone pool showing
tendencies of the lower zone.
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Barnacles characterize the upper regions of the
Middle Zone.
Ascophylum or Knotted Wrack is easily seen in the
lower portions of the Middle Zone.
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Fucus is very evident in the Middle Zone
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Barnacle Feeding Barnacles are filter feeders
feeding on plankton and detritus.
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A Symbiotic Relationship
In the Middle Zone the Ascophylum (Knotted Wrack
and the red Polysiphonia live in a symbiotic
relationship.
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Students found it tough going on the slippery
brown algae of the Middle Zone
The change in algae types is quite drastic from
the Upper Zone.
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Middle Lower Interface At this point the brownish
middle zone starts to turn into the red algae
lower zone.
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Lower Zone Tidepool
The lower tidepool is identified by the pink
color and the kelp in the pool. Also the Irish
moss in the lower part of the image is indicative
of this zone.
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Kelp, a brown algae, is common in the lower zone
pools. It has a very strong holdfast to secure it
to cope with the wave action.
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Irish Moss was very evident in the tidepools of
the lower middle zone.
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Bread Crumb and Dead mans fingers sponge can
usually be seen in the lower zones of the Fundy
shore intertidal areas.
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Tessa found a sea anemone that was closed. They
are quite beautiful when the tentacles are
showing.
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The Phylum Mollusca at Black Rock
The Blue Mussels
The Periwinkle Family 1. Rough2. Dwarf3. Common
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. more Phylum Mollusca!!
The common Limpet (Chinese Hat Snail)
Dog whelks feeding on barnacles.
A dog whelk hole in a shell.
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Dog whelks and their eggs.
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. And even more Molluscs
In past years we have found sea slugs and
chitons. We had no luck this year. They are
common to the lower zone.
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We even found a member of the Phylum Annelida
These are a species of Polychaete. Sometimes
these are called sandworms. We usually find them
if the tide is out far enough.
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Rock Crabs are quite common in the Fundy
intertidal zone.
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Other Arthropods of the Fundy Shore
Green crab
Amphipods
Copepods
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We looked but did not find Hermit crabs this
year. They crabs live in vacated shells of
molluscs.
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And there were Echinoderms also !!!
KCs starfish!! These animals feed on shellfish.
Note how the stomach comes out of the body when
feeding.
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Remember all the screaming .
Rock gunnels are common along the Fundy sure.
They love to hide under the seaweeds and rocks
and scare people.
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This is the mermaids purse (No.. Not the mermaid
at the end of the road!!) which is the egg case
of the a skate. The skate is a relative of the
sharks. One was found at Black Rock.
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As your studies will prove the number of species
increases as you move closer to the low tide line.
Take note of all the periwinkles on the rocks.
This was not evident in the upper zone.
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There were even members of the Phylum Chordata
present.
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At the end of the day I think everybody was a
little tired. I know Mike was!!!