Protocols for teachers undertaking Marine Investigations
Read up on the creatures in your aquarium to find out what types of food they eat. Some seasnails are herbivorous or plant eating and they will need plants such as sealettuce to feed upon. A good check for herbivorous seasnails is to turn the animal upside down and check its shell shape. If it has a rounded shell opening underneath then it is likely to be herbivorous ( a bit like a round salad bowl shape). If its shell opening is more pointed or eliptycal then it is likely to be a carnivore and feed on other snails and meat.
Mussels are a good source of food for meat eating sea creatures. Break open the mussel and place a small piece on each sea anemone. Leave the rest of the mussel for fish, shrimps, seastars, crabs and carnivorous seasnails to eat. |
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If you are collecting extra seawater or live mussels, amphipods or sea lettuce to put into your tank make sure you clean your collecting gear after each trip. Wash any buckets or nets that you have used in the sea in bleach to rid them of marine pests eggs and larvae which are microscopic in size. Rinse thoroughly in freshwater and leave in the sun to dry before using them again.
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Always dispose of any seawater from your tank into the sewerage system or treat with bleach and tip well away (200 m ) from any waterway.
Euthanase sea creatures at the end of your tank's life.
Place dead animals in a sealed plastic bag and dispose of at a registered tip site.
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Kids with sea urchin |
- If you want to collect or catch marine pests in traps you will need to get hold of a special marine pest permit form Robert Green, Marine Bd Bldg DPIWE
- Protocols are being set up by the CSIRO to involve schools in a marine pest project. A kit is in the process of being developed.
- Any marine pests caught in traps under permit should be euthanased and their bodies sealed in plastic bags and disposed of at a registered tip site. Remember any leakage from this bag into a waterway could spread microscopic eggs and larvae and would be a disaster for the local marine environment.
- Never transport live specimens of marine pests from one place to another.
- Always wash any gear that has been in the sea with chlorine or bleach to kill any microscopic larvae or eggs, then rinse well in freshwater and leave in the sun to dry.
Ingrid Albion
Marine Discovery Centre
Woodbridge District High School
Woodbridge
Ph 62674792
Email: Ingrid.Albion@dpiwe.tas.gov.au
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