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Marine life is classified by their taxonomy, habitat, and feeding behavior. The taxonomy is determined by each organism’s biological family. One determination of family is whether each organism is single-celled or multi-celled. The ocean habitat has three types of animals; Plankton, Nekton, and Benthos. The animals that we collected off of the sea floor when we dredged were Benthos. Nekton are animals that can swim. We collected Nekton when we trolled. Plankton are animals that are unable to swim but remain suspended in the water column. We collected the plankton in the plankton net. Phytoplankton (plant like) and zooplankton (animal like) are the two kinds of plankton. (The troll, dredge, and plankton net can be seen on the ‘Testing Procedure & Equipment’ page.) In terms of feeding behavior, animals are either producers (autotrophs) and consumers (heterotrophs), or they are photosynthesizes which make their own food. The animals that we found were autotrophs and heterotrophs. At site three we found an abundance of larger animals such as fish, birds, snails, crabs, clams, and squid. In addition there was an abundance of grassy material and plant vegetation that was growing in the water that provided hiding places for the animals. Where there are large animals, there are smaller animals in which the larger animals consume. Site three therefore has larger animals that are living in this area because thy are attracted to the abundant availability of food (smaller and in many cases younger animals). At site two, the majority of animals that we found were smaller animals that are able to attach themselves (or their homes) to a hard surface such as a shell. By attaching themselves to a hard surface they are able withstand the high velocities that occur in this area when the tides go in and out. Seaweed that is native to southern Florida was found suspended in the water at site one. This indicates that the tropical storm must be coming from the southern Florida and that we should be expecting a mixture of the oceanic waters from the south to be mixing in with the existing waters in the Chesapeake Bay. |
