March 10 – Juncos and a Robin

Cloudy, with fog in the morning
Wind: 0 – 16 knots from the W then NE in the morning, switching to SE in the afternoon
Air Temperature: High 10°C, Low 7°C
Ocean Temperature: 8.9°C

This morning, the Pearson students here for Project Week helped stack firewood in the cupboards outside of the Engine Building.

Four oregon juncos and a robin were seen flying around the southern part of Great Race.

This afternoon, four students took part in rescue diving scenarios with Chris. Afterwards a few of them went snorkelling around the jetty to check out the sea stars, a sea slug and other species.

Chunk continues to hang out near the Marine Science Centre.

Three ecotour boats came into the ecological reserve to share the sights, sounds and smells of the marine mammals and birds with their customers.

Granulina margaritula: Pear-shaped margaritula– The Race Rocks taxonomy

Granulina margaritula the “Little Pearl” is a prosobranch gastropod belonging to the Marginellidae family that ranges from Southern Alaska to Panama. The bright colouration shown in this photo comes from the animal’s “mantle” which is an extension of the “dorsal body”. The epidermis of the mantle can secrete CaCO3 to create a shell.

To see G. margaritula’s shell and mantle: http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?enlarge=0000+0000+03…
A special thank you to Dr. Alan Kohn at University of Washinton for his help in identifying G. margaritula.

This is the first one photographed underwater at Race Rocks

Compare the size Granulina margaritula to Flabellina verrucosa beside it in this photo.This “Three-lined” aeolid is seasonally abundant from Baja to Alaska (Behrens, 1991). Aeolids are opisthobranch gastropods known as sea slugs because they have lost their shells. This photo shows the nudibranch’s “oral tentacles” (bottom), ridged sensory antennae called “rhinophores”, “cerata” which contain stolen stinging cells for defense, and a “propodial tentacle”. This aeolid is common year-round at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve where it is often observed feeding on hydroids such as Tubularia.
Macro
 images by Ryan Murphy

 

Other Members of the Phylum Echinodermata Mollusca at Race Rocks 
taxonomyiconReturn to the Race Rocks Taxonomy
and Image File
pearsonlogo2_f2The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. January 2011, Ryan Murphy

 

 

Limacea cockerelli: Race Rocks Taxonomy

On a background of bryozoans, a macro image by Ryan Murphy, 2011

Photo by Adam Harding, 2011

This is a very small dorid nudibranch, 15 mm in length, with elongate orange-tipped club-shaped tubercles around dorsal margin. Rhinophores are bright red-orange.
We haven’t photographed this nudibranch before, but due to its small size it has probably been overlooked until now.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Order Opisthobranchia
Infraorder: Doridina
Family Triophidae
Genus Limacea
Species cockerelli
Common Name: Laila cockerelli (Macfarland,1905)