Author: Danielle Wright
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129/150: Brittle stars know how to get around!
Animalia: Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea: Ophiurida: Ophiactidae: Ophiopholis: Ophiopholis aculeata (Linnaeus, 1767) The daisy or crevice brittle star, Ophiopholis aculeata, is one of many species of brittle stars that live in Canadian waters. A circumpolar species, these echinoderms are recognizable by their long, thin arms, quite distinct from their central plate. Unlike other sea stars, brittle stars…
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122/150: Happy Hagfish Day!
Animalia: Chordata: Myxini: Myxiniformes: Myxinidae: Eptatretinae: Eptatretus: Eptatretus stoutii (Lockington, 1878) The Pacific Hagfish is a jawless fish species that has a long, eel-like body. They are boneless, with only cartilage and keratin structures and flexible enough they can tie themselves into knots – a useful tool for applying some biting force when you have…
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105/150: Sea pens – not your typical corals
Animalia: Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Pennatulacea: Pennatulidae: Pennatula: Pennatula aculeata (Danielssen, 1860) Sea pens are colonial marine cnidarians found worldwide and normally at depths greater than 10 meters. Sea pens prefer deeper waters because they can avoid uprooting due to water turbulence. They live most of their lives in a sessile (immobile) state, however they can relocate…
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35/150: A Purple Sea Urchin for Purple Day!
animalia: Echinodermata: Echinoidea: Echinoida: Strongylocentrotidae: Strongylocentrotus: Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (Stimpson, 1857) Today is Purple Day, a day of support for people with epilepsy. We thought we’d share a very purple creature, the Purple Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus).
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30/150: Hail Hydra! The immortal cnidarian
animalia: Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Anthoathecata: Hydridae: Hydra: Hydra canadensis (Rowan, 1930) From Marvel movies to Greek mythology, ‘Hydra’ is a familiar word referring to a many headed monster that can regenerate heads for every one cut off. It sounds far-fetched, but in fact, is exactly what the freshwater cnidarian can do. Hydra is a genus containing…
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9/150: Fairly Shore it’s a Fairy Shrimp
Animalia: Arthropoda: Branchiopoda : Anostraca: Branchinectida: Branchinecta: Branchinecta paludosa (O. F. Müller, 1788) Branchinecta paludosa is a species of fairy shrimp found almost everywhere in the northern hemisphere, and one of the only four species of fairy shrimp that are freshwater inhabitants. Most species in the fairy shrimp group have several pairs of swimming legs,…
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4/150: Rainbows and Death in the Canadian Pacific
Animalia: Echinodermata: Asteroidea: Forcipulatida : Asteriidae: Orthasterias: Orthasterias koehleri (Deloriol, 1897) Did you see Star Wars Rogue One? Don’t worry if you missed it! Our latest member of our Canada 150 posts is a Sea Star, and it’s a rogue one; the only species in its genus! An uncommon species known as the rainbow star…
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A rare BioBlitz
Hello everyone, today I want to tell you about my first BioBlitz! It was held at rare Charitable Research Reserve on Sunday, August 16th. I have previously visited rare to do some standardized sampling with Dan and Kareina, so I knew where we were going, but as this was my first BioBlitz I didn’t know…