Intro to an Internship!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sorry that I did not write yesterday, but I was soooooooo busy!
First I had an internship from 7 to 1pm, then theatre from 1:30 to 4:30 pm and then a Valentines Day Dance from 6:30 to 8:30 pm! I was DEAD, when I got back home at 9:30!
But today, I'm gonna take you through my internship.

It's at the Invertebrate House, at the National Zoo in D.C.

Here I am with the coral tank:

The corals are fed brine shrimp that is specially grown for that purpose in large cylinders. The cylinders contain a solution of Deionized and salt water.

Some of the corals were harvested from tropical waters during specific expeditions when corals spawn.

 

Next, I helped feed the sea urchins. It was really fun!!! We stuck little bits of shrimps on poles and then put the shrimp bits on the sea urchins. Immediately, they came alive and extended their many tiny tentacles ( see the thin brick red strings with white tips in the photo above). I never knew that sea urchins had tentacles, so that was a big discovery for me. Some of the Interpreters explained that sea urchins have tentacles because they are echinoderms, same as sea stars.

 

Next we fed the sea anemones! This was even more fun because you could actually feel the animal grab hold of the stick and the shrimp.

Here is the cold water tank with the anemones and large sea urchins. Some of the anemones were sleeping and had their tentacles hidden.

Sea anemones are so colorful because they have photosynthetic bacteria that live inside their cells and produce the exotic colors. Same as corals! In reality, sea anemones are just big, muscular polyps.

In the "Touch Tank" section,  I got to hold a Nautilus shell. Nautilus's are cephalopods. Remember the fifth type of mollusks?

 

Here you can see a Nautilus shell that was cut in half. The inside compartments of the shell are visible. They chronicle the growth of the mollusk.

 

One last glance at the Nautilus!

 

 

This here is a Mantis Shrimp. It's big compound eyes allow the animal almost 360 degree vision. Both the female and male specimens of this species are approximately the same size.

 

Now, one of my favorites, the Tube Anemone. These creatures grow on a long, relatively thin stalk or tube. The tube is made of used nematocytes (stinging cells) and sand grains. They can also MOVE, by a strange combination of squirming and hopping.

This is a cute pretty creature, that I guessed was an anemone. But, I stood corrected, because one of the Interpreters said that he was not sure what it was and that it might  be a coral.

Oh well! I still like it!

 

And that was the first day of my internship! So fun and full of new experiences. I can't wait to go back next week.

 

Good bye,

Yaroslava :D