Kalama Intermediate's 8th grade Earth science OPIHI field trip (teacher Diane Banks) April 20th 2007

Straightening out the transect line

Ready for a great field trip!

Look how good the look boxes work!

The groups are spread out in a circular radiating pattern on the tip of one of the rocky spits from Waipuilani Beach

Holding down the quadrat with your feet prevents it from floating away

Different group members perform different tasks, such as writing and holding the ID cards

Sea urchin (Echinothrix calamaris)

Getting up close and personal with the intertidal means turning over rocks to find creatures hiding beneath

Using a pencil helps when doing point-intercepts to determine what is directly under the intercept

Groups radiate out from the tip of the first spit from Waipuilani Beach as seen here

Transects were 20m long and started about 3m in from shore

Getting a closer look at an organism

Even at sites where there initially does not appear to be many creatures - turning over rocks you can always find a lot of things!

This big rock is sure to have a lot of invertebrates associated underneath it

Look boxes are especially helpful when the water is a little deeper and ripples make it hard to see underwater

Examining and organism closely helps to identify it correctly

Waipuilani Beach's spits are revealed at low tide and are made of coral rubble

If an organism is not on the ID cards, we have to consult books!

Getting close to the transect lets you see things more accurately

The students show their teacher (Diane Banks) something exciting they just found

Even with all the hotel nearby, there are a lot of organisms at this beach!

Still hard at work

Brittle stars (Ophiocoma erinaceus) are common in Hawaii's intertidal and are fun to hold

We found a scorpion fish! (And very very carefully maneuvered it into this container - they are poisonous!)

Looking up the identify of our scorpion fish

Look boxes make good temporary holding tanks for organisms you want to show off - like our scorpion fish!