taxa id lab kyle

10 Agardhs Red Weed

coarsely bushy; fleshy

round branches tapers at end and base

deep reddish

up to 12 inches

11 Seaweed False Agardhiella

Gracilaria verrucosa

very similar to agardhs but doesn’t taper at base

fruiting bodies more protuberant than agardhs

up to 12 inches

12 Plant Eelgrass

zostera marina

grows in clumps

¼ inch wide and up to 3 feet long

grows in sandy, silty, or gravely substrates

indicator species

19 Cnidaria Moon Jellyfish

aurelia aurita

has nemotocytes although they are small and weak

horseshoe shaped gonards, looks like a four leaf clover

average 12 inches wide can be up to 24

23 Ctenophora Sea Gooseberry

Pleurobrachia pileus

Body spherical with 2 long tentacles, can be contracted

Pulse rows of cilia for locomotion

Up to one inch

24 Mollusca Atlantic Oyster Drill

Urosalpinx Cinerea

Uses an acid to drill through oysters to eat them

Voracious predators of whelks

Up to about one inch

Varies from gray or purple-ish to tan or yellowish white

25 Mollusca Common Periwinkle

Littorina Littorea

Up to 1.5 inches in length

Spiral shell, usually gray

Have an internal tide table

Travel up a blade of grass when tide is coming in and leave a sticky trail behind. Plankton sticks to mucus, tide recedes, and periwinkle travels down blade of grass and eats the plankton.

26 Mollusca Channeled Whelk

Busycotypus canaliculatus

Has smooth channels running along the spire

Up to 7.5 inches in length

Shell color varies

Right-handed (dextral)

27 Mollusca Knobbed Whelk

Busycon carica

pointed spiral on top with knobs

Varying colors from light tan/orange to dark grey/blue

Reach maturity in 3-5 years at which point growth slows/stops, average life span is 12-16 years, but can live up to 40.

Find both shells and egg casings on Wallop’s Island.

28 Mollusca Mud Dog Whelk

illyanassa obsoletus

Small snail with a spiral shell, usually dark brown to black in color

Carnivorous

Up to one inch in length

29 Mollusca Atlantic Ribbed Muscle

Geukensia demissa

Longitudinal grooves

Secretes byssal threads which are used to attach to a substrate or to other mussels

2-4 inches long

30 Mollusca Blue Mussel, Common Mussel

Mytilus edulis

Blue color on the interior of the shell

Smooth shell as opposed to ribbed mussel

Up to four inches, often much smaller