By Amy Small
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We went to the REEF on August 17. The REEF is The Research Experience & Education Facility. You can touch and see lots of fish living near Santa Barbara, in here. It is located by the Pacific Ocean. We were shown it by four USCB students. We have been to there last February as a school trip with our classmates. So we were very looking forward to going there again.
Kaho Takatera, Mayumi Ono |
We touched a starfish. The starfish’s mouth is on the backside of the body, which can chew even a shell. I thought it was a very cute and commonly seen creature, but it was very ferocious. In addition, I learned that the brittle star is very fragile. We touched their feet a bit, so their feet broke. We got a little sad but we were relieved to know that their feet would be regenerated.
(Kaho Takatera) We touched a sea urchin. It had many thorns, but it didn’t hurt. It was also active and it was moving even after leaving the water. Urchins are called "Uni" in Japanese. Urchins are also eaten by many Japanese, and very popular in Japan, and the marine laboratory staff knew that. (Urara Azuma, Chihiro Usuda) |
By Amy Small
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We asked a lot of questions to the marine laboratory staff.
Chihiro asked, "How old is a big lobster?" the staff answered, "It is eighty years old, and it is probably the same age as your grandmother.” She also asked, “how often times a day do the staff feed the sea creatures?” She responded, “we feed them twice a week.” Akane asked, "Where is the starfish's mouth?" The keeper answered, "The mouth is in the center of its back.” (Chihiro Usuda, Akane Terajima) Karin asked, “How often do you feed sea cucumbers?” the staff answered, “twice a week.” Kyoka asked, “How many years do abalone live?” They answered, “We don’t know. But they can live a long time.” Mei asked them how many years the starfish live. They said that the starfish is living seems to live longer than people. (Karin Takada, Kyoka Hiroya, Mei Yoshinari) |
By Amy Small
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