Tide Pools Essay, Research Paper

Tide Pools

Tide pools. What are tide pools? Why should we care about tide pools? What inhabits the tide pools? When I first started to discover tide pools in the first person, it became eminent that I didn t have a clue to what the tide pools had to offer and to what they were about. I knew that it was where the ocean and the land meet, but not what is truly there. As you venture down to the tide pools you discover the many varieties and there abundances. Tide pools are more then the place were the land and the sea meet. It is where Invertebrates live and thrive.

Invertebrates are animals without a backbone. Most of them live on the sea floor, they are called benthos. If they are stuck to the rocks or bottom they are known as Sessile and they can grow up to be sea anomies. Others are Motile or free moving, they turn out to be crabs, or lobster.

Mollusks cover a diverse range of habitats and feeding types. The many habitats are known as; Benthos they live on the ocean floor, they are mainly filter feeders (They pick up nutrients as they float by with arms or tentacles) or Detritivores (Dead stuff that sinks to the bottom). Planktonic or plankton are open ocean, they do not swim, are independent of currents. Nektonic are open ocean animals that swim independently of currents. The anatomy of an invertebrate is a soft bodied animal that have an internal (Squid) or external (Clam) shell. The basic parts are; the Foot which is tissue associated with feeding. The Mantle which is tissue covering the mollusk s body. The Shell which is the protective or structural purpose depending upon the species. And finally the Visceral mass also known as the internal organs (Guts).

There are Three major classification for the Mollusk: Gastropods, Bivalves, and Cephalopods.

Gastropods are stomach foot like snails or abalone. Bivalves have two shells like claims and oysters. Cephalopods are head foot like octopus, squid and also nautilus.

Echinoderms are sea urchins and cucumbers, Echinoderm means Spiny skin . Echinoderms are bilaterally symmetrical as larvae, but are radially symmetrical as adults. There appendages and designs are multiples of Five. They are benthic, but motile. Their feeding habits are mainly grazing.

Cnidarians are sea jellies, sea anomies and coral. Cnidarians are soft bodied animals armed with stinging tentacles, these stinging cells are called nematocysts. All Cnidarians are radially symmetrical. They reproduce asexually which means without a significant other.

Arthropods are crabs, lobster they have a jointed foot. Arthropods have an exoskeleton made of chitin or calcium carbonate . They are called jointed foot because each extension of the body meets together. They molt and reproduce sexually.

Now that you known what kind of animals live down at tide pools where are you going to find each of these animals? In order to find each animal you must think of the limiting factors that effect the tide pools. Some of the limiting factors are; Sun Exposure which can lead to desiccation or drying up.

Tides they bring H20, food, and also disperse larvae. Space to spread out, especially for sessile animals. Their food source if it s plankton, detritus, algae, or other. The other clue you must remember in finding these animals is the tidal range(The mean or average High tide, Low tide, and slack tide or mean water level). With all these factors in mind you would most likely find crabs around the mean low and the mean water level. You would find sea anomies around the mean water level and the mean high tide. Also for sea anomies they are usually behind an object (usually a rock) to lessen the beating of the waves as the fluctuate. My observations also show that golf balls are usually around the rocks above the mean high tide.

With a greater understanding of the tide pools we can conclude that it is essential that we must take care of the tide pools. The Entire ocean depends upon the health and conservation of the tide pools to supply the smaller fish with food so the larger fish have smaller fish to eat.