Liberty High School students learns about tide pools 

Students explore tide pools and study marine plants and animals

Liberty High School students explore the tide pools at Shell Beach.

–On Friday, May 27 students from Liberty High School explored the tide pools at Shell Beach as part of the Rocky Intertidal, Marine Life Monitoring Program sponsored by the Central Coast Aquarium. Students explored the tide pools to learn how to collect data using transects and quadrats to study population levels and trends of different species.

They observed and learned about marine plants and animals in their natural marine habitat, including hermit crabs, turban snails, anemones, chitons, purple sea urchins, gooseneck barnacles, sea stars, muscles, limpets, acorn barnacles and tube worms. Many students had not experienced the tide pools to such an extent.

Students also video conferenced with Francesca Henderson, a long distance education Ports interpreter for California State Parks. Henderson discussed tide pools with students from her location at Crystal Cove State Park. Students made connections with the cause of tides, high versus low tides, different zones in the intertidal zone, state regulations for Marine Protection Areas, and were able to get a “first observation” of marine plants and animals via an underwater video camera placed in a tide pool.