Mollusk Discovery

A Cephalopod is any member of the molluscan phylum. Member of the animalia kingdom, the mollusca phylum, Cephaloda class, Sepiida order, Sepiidae family, and Spedia genus and subgenus.  Cephalopod meaning "Head-foot"  Example of a Cephalopod is squid, octopus, chambered nautilus and cuttlefish. Cephalopods have the largest developed eyes and have great vision.  They are able to produce an ink cloud and able to camouflage themselves. 

Per wikipedia, The origin of the word cuttlefish can be found in the old English term cudele, which derived in the 15th century from the Norwegian koddi (cushion, testicle) and the Middle German kudel (pouch), a good description of the cephalopod's shape. Cuttlefish have the largest brain-to-body ratio. 

Broadclub Cuttlefish

The Broadway Cuttlefish's scientific name is Sepia latimanus. The Broadway Cuttlefish is the second largest cuttlefish, growing up to 19.7inches long and 22.05lbs in weight. Cuttlefish have the ability of changing their color and texture. 

The two pictures of the Broadway Cuttlefish are the exact some one but different stages of their coloration.

Video link:

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/wgbh-nova/2356-the-cuttlefishs-amazing-camouflage-video.htm

Biofilm Simulation at the G.C. Marine Reserve

The first thing we did was to take a graham cracker and put icing on the bottom of it to stick to the paper towel.  The cracker represents a Plexiglas plate, the towel would be the ocean and the icing would be the Extracellular Polymeric Substance(slime)  

Here we put different kinds of sprinkles to represent different kinds or organisms; Red coralline algae, Diatoms, Barnacles, Coral and Oysters The lifesavor is the bolt to keep the substrate down. The penny is there to show the scale. For every ten Barnacles on the graham cracker you got one marshmellow. The point of this whole experiment was to see how different organisms settle at different places and at different quantities.   When we were done with the project we got to eat are graham cracker  and I never thought that  that combination of food would taste so great :)