On a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon in September where might you expect to find a group of UBC Ocean and Fisheries community members? Working on their tan lines at wreck beach? Nursing a hangover courtesy of Koerner’s pub the night before? With their heads stuffed into a pile of research papers stacked a mile high???
More like knee deep in mud and saltwater! Okay…. maybe not knee deep, it was low tide after all.
On Saturday, September 10th, a group of IOF students, postdocs, faculty, and staff donned their best rubber boots and met coastal ecology expert and PI at UBC, Dr. Christopher Harley, to take advantage of the receding waters and tour one of the intertidal zones at Stanley Park. The day started off with an encouraging piece of advice on navigating intertidal zones: “if you’re falling, fall on the algae it makes for a much softer landing,” the man speaks from experience. Luckily everyone made it out unscathed, even from the intimidating clutches of some massive red rock crabs.
For over an hour, rocks were overturned, algae were examined and animals too slow to get away were disturbed.
I’m sorry, sea star, you evolved 15,000 tube feet but you couldn’t run away from some bipedal mammals?! (No animals were harmed in the making of this day)
All was of course done in the name of science! Dr. Harley shared his extensive knowledge of coastal ecology, past and current research and fun tidbits of all the amazing marine life found.
In a weird conclusion to the day Dr. Harley made everyone sniff a leather sea star (which of course everyone did without hesitation; biologists, am I right?) It turns out they smell like garlic, who knew?!
A huge thank you to Katherine Came and Chris Harley for organizing such a fun and informative day!
Tags:Christopher Harley, coastline, IOF Student Society, ocean ecology, Stanley Park