By Leighna, Camden, and Ayla
Using Derek’s convenient acronym, we now know how scientists classify the marine species that we love. Today, the group focused on taxonomy (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).
After a fun and eventful Fourth of July, breakfast began at 9:00 AM, allowing everyone to sleep in and prepare for a whole day of even more exciting activities! After a quick breakfast, all of us loaded onto the vans to head to Reuben Tarte. Once we got to our destination, Derek announced a friendly competition between the house groups (Seals, Orcas – obviously the best of the groups, Salmon, Octopodi, Sharks) that challenged each of the groups to classify as many organisms on the beach as possible.
We walked among the slippery sea lettuce frantically turning over rocks to uncover many crabs, ocher sea stars, and gunnels. A true miracle of biology was witnessed by some of the group members when they saw two crabs reproducing. Four hours were spent at Reuben Tarte exploring the beach, allowing everyone to discover and identify marine species they had never seen before.
Even though a student suffered a sprained ankle from slipping on the cold rocks, we did find a dead 1.5 meter-long fish lying in an obscure corner of a tide pool. Dr. Adam Summers, the head ichthyologist at Friday Harbor Labs, was contacted about the fish. He texted Derek to “leave the fish in a tank if he wasn’t there to shriek with excitement”. After the disgustingly smelly carcass was loaded into a van, Ben and Camden accompanied the fish to Friday Harbor Labs. The rest of the students went to visit the pleasant-smelling Pelindaba Lavender Farm.
At Friday Harbor labs, Camden and Ben carried the log into Dr. Adam Summer’s lab. The log was carefully placed onto a tank while the rest of the group searched for an empty tank to put the fish into. Camden and Nicholas put gloves on to lift the fish into the empty tank. Dr. Summers was there quietly shrieking with joy! The fish head was squeezed to remove the eye lens. Scissors were then used to remove the eye of the fish. The log was then removed from the lab and tossed onto the beach.
The Lavender Farm, on the other hand, smelled very pleasant. Some students opted to take a peaceful and relaxed walk through the abundant fields of purple, while others went straight to the gift shop to taste test and try out lavender products. After a short 20 minutes at the farm, the students arrived back to the dorms to spend some personal time until dinner.
To end the day, we watched the new Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home as a whole group! It was quite unexpected, but it was a pleasant surprise and a fun movie to watch together.