Welcome To Our Dock Organism Page

Dr. Claudia Mills shows Friday Harbor High School students
how to gather infomation from a tire.

We are identifying the major plants and animals on the pilings, dock surfaces, or rubber tires attached to the docks. (The tires are used as fenders to protect boat hulls when tied to the dock.) For the purpose of this study we simply identify the most common organisms and give
a rough estimate of their abundance using the following codes:

A = abundant
C = common
R = rare

If the table below seems crooked or out of line, go to Options/Preferences in Netscape & set your browser's fixed font as Courier.



Here are the data from our collections:

Dock Organism Data

0900 = outside
1130 = inside
1700 = inside (stormy)
0600 = outside (dawn)

Here are the data from our collections:

Dock Organism Data

0900 = outside
1130 = inside
1700 = inside (stormy)
0600 = outside (dawn)

Pacific - Friday Harbor      11-Apr   11-Apr   11-Apr   12-Apr   12-Apr

                             0900PDT  1130PDT  1700PDT  0400PDT  0600PDT

Sampling Location ->              

FLORA--algae                    A        C        C        -        A 

                  
Phaeophyta - brown algae        C        C        C        -        R

  Laminaria                     C        A        C        -        R

  Costaria                      R        -        C        -        R

  Alaria                        C        -        -        -        R

  Scytosiphon                   R        -        -        -        -
 
  Petalonia                     C        -        -        -        - 

  Fucus                         -        -        R        -        - 

Rhodophyta--red algae           A        C        C        -        A

  Iridaea                       A        R        C        -        R

  Gigartina                     -        -        -        -        R

  Cryptopleura                  A        C        C        -        R

  Delesseria                    -        -        C        -        R

  Rhodymenia                    R        -        A        -        R 

  Schizymenia                   C        -        -        -        - 

  Crustose Coralline            R        -        -        -        -
 
  Polyneura                     C        C        C        -        A
  
  Callophyllis                  C        C        -        -        R

  Farlowia                      C        -        -        -        -

Chlorophyta--green algae       R/C       R        R        -        R

  Ulva                          C        C        -        -        C

  Enteromorpha                  R        -        -        -        -

  Cladophora                    R        -        -        -        -


FAUNA--animals                  A        A        C        -        A
 
  Porifera--sponges             A        A        R        -        C

  Halichondria - encrust.       A        C        A        -        C

  Haliclona - encrusting        -        R        -        -        - 

  Scypha - vaselike             -        -        -        -        -


Cnidaria--hydroids, etc.        

  Metridium - anemone           R        A        A        -        C 

  Urticina - anemone            C        C        -        -        - 

  Garveia - hydroid             C        R        -        -       TBC
 
  Hydroid                       -        R        -        -        A


Mollusca--shelled animals       C        C        C        -        C             

  Mytilus - mussel              C       C/R       R        -       C/R

  Pododesmus - rock oyster      -        -        -        -        R

  Lottia - limpet               C        R        A        -        -

  Mopalia - chiton              R        R        -        -        -

  Flabellina - nudibranch       R        C        -        -        C          

Annelida--segmented worms       R        C        R        -        R

  Spirorbis - tube worm         R        C        -        -        R

  Sabellid                      -        -        R        -        -


Bryozoa--moss animals           R        C        A        -        C
 
  Membranipora - sheet          -        R        A        -        -
 

Arthropoda--crustaceans         A        R        C        -        A
 
  Balanus - barnacle            A        A        A        -        A

  Pandalus - shrimp             R        R        A        -        A

  Calliopius - amphipod         R        -        -        -        C

  Idotea - isopod               -        -        -        -        - 

  Pugettia - crab               R        R        R        -        R

  Cancer - Crab                 R        -        -        -        R 

    
Echinodermata--sea stars,etc    R        -        -        -        -

  Eupentacta - sea cucumber     -        -        -        -        -

  Ophiuroid - brittle star      R        -        -        -        -


Urochordata--sea squirts        A        C        -        -        A

  Pyura - solitary              R        -        A        -        A

  Chelyosoma - solitary         R        A        -        -        a

  Styela - solitary             R        A        -        -        -

  Distaplia - compound          R        -        -        -        R

  Gobisox maendricus            -        R        -        -        -
  (cling fish)

Things to think about:

Would you expect to find different dock organisms on the shaded side
compared to the sunny side?

Is there a difference between the Pacific and Atlantic dock organisms?
Can
we determine this from our study?

How do these plants and animals colonize a new tire attached to a dock
float?

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