l"trr rlrtt Educational- Pamphl-et No. l-3 VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE o|-oucrtTli FotxT. YtRotr{ta A GUIDE TO THE IDENTIFICAT]ON OF THE MARTNEPLANTS AND ]NVERTEBRATEANIMALS OF T]DEWATER\IRGINIA by Virginia Bemy Niemeyer Churchland High School- Olro c:no:La \7'j, _rgl_n].a and Dorothy A. Martin Granby High School- NOTIOIK, V]-rgil-n]-a Vlrginia fnstitute of Marine Sci-ence Educational- Series No. l-3 l-967 This guide was prepared whil-e the authors were partici- pants in the National Science Foundation Cooperative CoIIege-School Scj.ence Program directed by the Virgini-a lnstitute of Marine Science at Norview High School, Norfo1k, Virginia, 1963, under NSF Grant No, E3/3/29- 1630. Tabl-e of Contents +trv!vuuuUMt.Tni-rnd"nt--i ^- 'l Plankton. 4 pl_ants. Col-Iectj_ng Marine 6 Preserving Marine Pfants. B Key to the Genera of the CommonMarine Algae in Tidewater Virginia T4 Classification and Description of Plant Genera. 20 Col-lectj-ng Marlne Animal_s Preserving Marine Animal_s 34 Classification and Generic Deseripti_ons of CommonMarine Animals in Tidewater Virginia. 36 Areas Where Col_lections Were Made 56 Field Coll_ections 58 C'l oqq:nrt 6B References. BO INTRODUCT]ON Purpose The rapidly growing intetest in the sea as a potential source of much greater quantities of food and raw material-s than it presently yields has pointed to the need for more literature dealing with its many kinds of resources. The importance of the sea to the Common- weal-th of Virginia and the interest of the cj-tizens of the Norfol-k area in the sea need no comment. These facts have for some time indicated a need for a l_ocal- or regional guide to the marine plants and animal_s of Tide- water Virginia, one that will- be hel-pful- to high school_ students who develop an interest in marine biology, fol-lowing a general- biol-ogy course, and one that will- be useful- to adul-ts who wish to identify and to know more about some of the commonmarine plants and animals that are abundant in the Tidewater area. Scope This work is but a beginning. It is the hope of the writers that it wil-l serve to stimul-ate the preparation of a series of more specialized and detailed guides which wil-l be useful- to students and adul-ts who may have had no more formal- training than a course in high school- biotogy. The opportunity to col-l-ect and study the material_s essential- to the preparati-on of the present work came in the summerof l-963 when the writers were teacher partic- lpants in a National- Science Foundation Cooperative College-School Sci-ence program in marine biology held at Norview High School, Norfolk, and sponsored jointly by the Norfol-k School- Board and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at Gl-oucester Point. The basis for choice of plants and animal_s to be incl-uded in this work was their apparent abundance during -l-- -z- the summerof I963f. ft shoutd be emphasized that some of those inc.l-uded may be rare or absent at times and others not included may occasionally be abundant. Vari- atj-ons in environmental_ conditi_ons, especially those af feetinct \^tater tAmnar':i-rrnoquuru, ourrrrruy,qal in-itrz I irrh"t- nonat-r:t--inn rryrtL l/strsLrqLAUIr, and other physical factors, cause variations in pl_ant and animal populatj-ons. Someof these variations are seasonal-, others are focal_ and temporary, such as those which may be caused by an extended drought or a prolonged rai-ny season. Somespecies are strictly seasonal, ^ ^^^^; - f r -. -*^qr +-L,^ --l *-^ -rd srpEU_Ld.Jry dtIL.rrtv LIle dIgde, dI._ ,..*J,m:rz ha nr,oconf__,IIL UltJynn-l rr during the surffner or only during winter and spring. Only brief references to microorganisms have been glven. Since the study of plankton requires the use of mi-croscopes, it was f el-t that more benef it would resul_t from emphasis on organisms requiring only gross examina- tion. Vertebrates have been omitted. The fishes are sufficiently described and figured in several_ inexpensi_ve and readily avail-abl-e texts. 'l Thus, their omission here qcnrrr,arrp qfrrdrz i s not ike l\/ touv urJuvurqy9d'i t-lre-irulluJ! ouugy. The ill-ustrations are based on sources l_isted in the references and differ chiefl_v in si_ze or sirnol_ifi- cation from the oriqinal-s. Acknowledgements Special thanks are extended to a number of the student participants j-n the program who cofl_ected and identified specimens, in particul-ar to Glen .Johnsonfor hi c lroln wir-l.r enAm^nac. F:t-niCj_a uvr rf r ruvr HUtChinSOn I urand rs Harrvltqr r J Verstynen, annel-ids; Linda Rice and Carl_ Bamett, animals of sand beachesl Stuart Katz, ecology of the Efizabeth River; George Kelly, fff , ecology of a sal_t marsh; Dal-e Truman and Jebb Baum. afqae. a 'Delay in publishing this manuscript has enabl-ed participants in subsequent NSF-CCSSprograms to add to the list of commonanimals and plants, but the l-ist is not i-ntended to cover the entire fl-ora and fauna of the areas visited. -.t - Grateful acknowl-edgementis made to Dr. Harol_d J. Hummof the University of South Florida, teacher of the course, for his encouragement and editing of the manu- script; and to Mr. Robert S. Bailey, director of the program for the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, for his efforts in amanging for publication. -4- PLANKTON Pl-ankton is the term applied to al-I the organisms that l-ive in suspension in the water and tend to drift with water cuments. It comes f rom the Greek word trwandererrr and sets such organisms apart from the animal-s capable of efficient, self-directed movement. These are cal-l-ed nekton. Pl-ankton includes both plants and animal-s and therefore may be sub-divided into these two giroups: phytoplankton, the plants; zooplankton, the animal-s. These organi-sms are usually microscopic or relatively 'l cm:l 'Tlrorr :ro n^l- nnlrr t-ho srv rrvv vrr+J 699l nUmefOUS mafine organisms, but al-so the most widely dispersed. The phytoplankton, a]l- the passj.vely floating plants of the sea, are the basic producers that combine simple inorganic compounds in the water to form complex organic substances by photosynthesis. These then become the food of the smal-l-er anj.mals of the zooplankton which in turn form the food supply of larger animal-s. Therefore, the importance of the phytoplankton lies in its reproduc- tion as the primary food supply of the sea. The chief pl-ants of the phytoplankton are the dj.atoms and dinof lagel-l-ates (Plate l-) . The zoopl-ankton has considerabty greater variety in its members. It is composed of two types of anj.mal-s. First, those that spend ai-l- their l-ives as microscopic plankton drifting in the sea are cal-l-ed holoplankton. Along the Virgi-ni-a coast this group is best represented by the protozoans cal-l-ed tintinnids, f oraminif era, and radiol-arians, and by crustaceans call-ed copepods. Second, the early life stages (eggs and floating larvae) of microscopic animals that wil-l- develop l-ater into free- swimming or bottorn-dwel-ling types are cal-l-ed meropl-ankton. This includes mainly the developmental stages of inver- tebrates, but al-so the young of many fishes. Someof the most cornmonmeroplankton found in .June and .Iuly were the larvae of crabs, snails, barnacles, annel-ids and oysters (Pl-ate 2). Meroplankton are abundant during and shortly after the annual reproductive period of the adul-ts, especially in spring and summer. PL^TZ PHYTO PL AN K TON Cqnerocepas Coscttootsctts Fu,zosotex,e \N N\\\ Navt cuLrl Ntrz cttrA SERIATA DlATOtvt FORfvlS A PcProrutu*t w'6''.l. k}{j NocntucA DrxoruAGeLLATE Fonr.rs PL/'TE 2 Z o o p\axr(ToN FORAMINIF ER5@ HOLO FLAN KTON FORMS *A**;r CoTL€NYERATE ANN€LID PLAilT'LA !ARVA TROCHOP}IORE LARVA CRI'STACEAN CRU9TACEAN C RO5'ACE AN CYPRIS LARVA NAUPLIUS AA''VA ZOEA LARVA moLLusK VEITCCRATC VC,LtGEI tAI,VA LEIYA WITII YOLX 9AC MCR,OPLANKTON FORM9 -5- Cofl-ection Methods Scj"entific institutions have eJ_aborate equipment aboard oceanographic vessefs for the col_l-ection of plankton. For amateurs, the basic device is a plankton nor r^ri+-lr :nar+-rlrg5 eu!uo smallDttrqJr enoucrhslruuvtr tnLv r-nanL!qt/ 1_hoLttE,..*-.*_* minute nrr-ra- ni.sms. Sifk or nylon botting cfoth of--i;;-*;it"rir"-ir"- the trzne rrsed fnr, sif ting f t-our is ttre usuat-*.t""i.r. numberedfrom 000 (coarsest) to 25 (finest). The net is an elongate cone with a frame to hol-d open the forward end, and with a detachable jar or vial- at the small trailing end. A net of number 20 mesh, measuring about six inches in diameter at the opening by a yard long, is very useful. sometimes a coarse screen is fitted across the frame to keep out larger, srow moving organisms such as comb jellies. The net may be dragged through waist deep water by a wading person or trai,l-ed from a boat. Tn deeper waters, a weight is added for col_tecting at rr?.4: t-on rl on1-h c Preservation Pl-ankton so col-l-ected mav he washed f r nyl the net wirh sea warer,-d;;;-i;io-.r,"'""ir"Jii;; j;; whererhey can be removed f or immediate exami-nati-on. The addition of sufflcient formal-in to the jar to bring the concentra- tion to 3% wj,rr kirl and preserve the plankton and cause it to settl-e to the bottom from which it may be removed for examination at a fater date.