Shannon Point: Bre Jarrell

After going out to Shannon Point this Friday, I had to write about the large bucket full of shrimp that was pulled up from the boat I was on. There were so many shrimp that the small fish caught underneath them were crushed and suffocated to death. There were also a few crab in the bucket, so pulling anything out of that mass of shrimp was comparable to sticking your hand into a pit and not knowing what was on the other side. We were lucky none of us were pinched as we attempted to pull out anything that wasn't a shrimp from the bucket.

Shrimp are an important part of the marine ecosystem at Shannon Point, and based on the number we saw while there, they seem to be doing just fine. They'll eat plankton and other creatures in the water, and other, larger animals such as fish, starfish, crabs, urchins, and humans will eat them. 

This large buckets of shrimp was by far the most interesting thing I'd seen while at Shannon Point. However, before going out on the boat I walked along the beach near the marine center to observe the wildlife there. I was amazed at not only the abundant wildlife living there, but the sheer number of crabs crawling across the sand beneath my feet. I must have stepped on at least fifty, which is a shame, but they were so abundant and seemed to blend in so well. 

I'm amazed by the large amount of marine wildlife in the northwest that before taking  this class I didn't even know was so close by, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to experience it. I'm only left wondering, how the different species that these shrimp and the large number of crabs I came across are doing, since there seems to be so many of their predators around.