Seattle Aquarium Workbook

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Name
4
6
8
7
5
1
Up to Cafe
Use this map to find your way
to the areas in this Workbook.
1 Window on Washington Waters
2 Tide Pools
3 Pacific Coral Reef
ENTRANCE
4 Shore Birds
5 Underwater Dome
The material contained in this Seattle Aquarium
Workbook is based upon work supported by
NASA under grant award Number NNX09AL68G.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration.
Recycled Content
6 Sea Otters
7 Northern Fur Seals
8 Discovery Zone Touch Screens
workbook
Down to
underwater
dome
SEATTLE AQUARIUM
2
What does the Seattle Aquarium do to
conserve energy and resources?
DO Try this scavenger hunt. Look for the “green things”
THIS pictured below as you walk around the Seattle Aquarium.
Circle each one when you see it.
Ocean Homes
Animals live in habitats that provide them with food
and shelter. Each animal’s needs are a little bit different
so you will find them in different places. Our Window
on Washington Waters exhibit represents a place called
Neah Bay. The rocky reefs and kelp forests of Neah
Bay provide habitats for many types of animals.
NUMBER
1
ON MAP
WINDOW ON
WASHINGTON
WATERS
Observe the animals in the Window on Washington Waters
exhibit. Look high, low, and in the middle to find fish and
invertebrates like sea anemones, sea stars and snails.
solar panels recycle bins rain barrels
low flush
toilets
hand dryers
DO Draw a picture of you or your family doing something to help
THIS keep the ocean healthy. It can be something you already do
or something you want to try. Share this picture with your family
and tell them how you can help the ocean.
Ideas:
• Pack a nowaste lunch
• Recycle and/
or compost
• Ride your bike
rather than
using a car
• Or come up
with your own
idea
DO Draw the animals you see in the habitat pictured below.
THIS Write the name of each animal next to the picture you draw.
(Try this: use the Fish Finder!)
A Rainbow in the Tide Pools
NUMBER
2
In this area of the Seattle Aquarium you will see and
touch animals that live in the inland seas of Puget
Sound and the outer coast of Washington. These
animals are a variety of shapes, sizes and colors.
ON MAP
TIDE
POOLS
Collecting in Hawaii
NUMBER
3
Many of the fish in our Pacific Coral Reef exhibit were
collected in Hawaii by Aquarium SCUBA divers. The
fish are collected carefully by hand to protect the wild
coral reef habitat.
DO Do you see a rainbow of animals in the tide pools? Try to
THIS find each of the animals below. How many of each can you
find? Write the number in the box next to each animal.
8”
ON MAP
PACIFIC
CORAL REEF
7”
Seattle
6”
Don’t forget to touch the animals gently with your science finger!
Hawaii
5”
red California sea
cucumber
green sea anemone
white plumose
anemone
DO Pretend you are on the Aquarium’s dive team. This is the
THIS collecting wish list. Circle each of the fish as you find them
in the Pacific Coral Reef exhibit.
3”
pufferfish, longer
than 6 inches
orange sea star
purple sea urchin
DO If you could be any animal that you see here in the tide
THIS pools, what would it be and why?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
tang, longer
than 3 inches
4”
triggerfish, shorter
than 12 inches
unicornfish, longer
than 8 inches
Sometimes the divers don’t find everything on the wish list.
How many of these species did you find today? _____________
2”
1”
Beaks That Help Birds Eat
NUMBER
4
Each beak helps the bird catch a specific type of food.
This allows birds like our shorebirds to live happily on
the same beach.
ON MAP
SHORE BIRDS
DO Draw a line between each bird and its prey (food).
THIS Hint: read the clues to help you find the perfect prey for
each bird.
longbilled
curlew
I eat a shelled
animal with a
curled tail.
marbled
godwit
I eat a wiggly
animal that
burrows deep.
oyster
catcher
I eat shellfish
that are
attached to
rocks.
Who Eats Whom in Puget Sound
NUMBER
5
The animals and plants in the Underwater Dome exhibit
represent many of the species that can be found right
here in Puget Sound. Each of these animals, from
microscopic plankton to long-lived rockfish, plays an
important role in this ecosystem.
ON MAP
UNDERWATER
DOME
The diagram below is one part of the food web showing the
feeding relationships between local animals. It’s basically a
diagram of who eats whom! Follow the arrows from the prey to
the predator.
golden plover
I eat a shallowburrowing
animal with
pinchers.
harbor seal
salmon
herring
plankton
shrimp
crab
worm
mussels
DO Based on this diagram, what do you think would happen if
THIS we put a harbor seal in the Underwater Dome exhibit?
__________________________________________________________
DO Choose one of the birds in the exhibit and watch it for a few
THIS minutes.
What kind of bird is it? ____________________________
Aquarium SCUBA divers bring frozen herring into the Underwater
Dome. What animal might they feed the herring to?
What is it doing? ___________________________________________
What color is the water in the Underwater Dome today?
Describe how its beak might help it catch its prey. ______________
_____________________
___________________________________________________________
If it is greenish or brownish, that means there is a lot of plankton
in the water!
__________________________________________________________
Sea Otter Census
Each year the Seattle Aquarium mammal biologists
participate in the Washington State sea otter census
(run by the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife). The participants count the sea otters from
planes and from shore using binoculars.
NUMBER
6
ON MAP
SEA
OTTERS
DO
THIS How many sea otters do you see in this photo? ________
Tagging Northern Fur Seals
NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration) is trying to solve the mystery of why
northern fur seal populations are getting smaller each
year. By gluing satellite tags on some of the seals,
scientists can learn about where the seals are travelling.
When fur seals molt (shed their fur once per year) the
tags fall off.
DO Draw a tag on the back
THIS of this northern fur seal.
Then draw a line showing how
information is sent from the
tag to the satellite and back to
scientists in a laboratory.
NUMBER
7
ON MAP
NORTHERN
FUR SEALS
Photo of a
Fur Seal Tag
DO In 2008 there were 1073 sea otters along the Washington
THIS coast. In 2010, 1004 sea otters were counted. Did the
population increase or decrease from 2008 to 2010? ________
By how much? ________
What are some factors that may affect sea otter populations?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
DO If a NOAA scientist tags a fur seal in July and the fur seal
THIS molts the next November, how many months will the tag be
on the fur seal? _________ How many days?________
If the tag shows a fur seal swam 140 miles in one week, about
how many miles did the seal swim each day?________
Seals, Satellites and Science
NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) made this picture showing warmer (red)
and cooler (blue) areas in the ocean using information
collected by satellites studying our Earth. Changes in
water temperature
can affect where
animals live and
where they can
find food.
Glossary:
NUMBER
8
ON MAP
Census: an official, systematic way of counting the members of
a certain population (it can be a population of people, animals, or
even objects).
Ecosystem: all of the living and non-living things in a certain area
and the relationships between them.
NORTHERN
FUR SEALS
Food web: a diagram that shows how different species are
connected to one another based on what they eat and what
eats them.
Habitat: the area a plant or animal lives in, or the area a particular
species lives in.
Invertebrate: an animal that does not have a backbone.
NASA: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is a
government agency that studies outer space as well as our home
planet Earth.
map credit: NASA
start
Neah Bay: a bay on the very northwest corner of Washington
State. The Seattle Aquarium’s Window on Washington Waters
exhibit was designed to look just like the underwater part of
Neah Bay.
NOAA: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
is a government agency that studies the ocean and atmosphere
of Earth.
Plankton: plants and animals that drift in the water. Many
plankton are microscopic but some are large enough to see
with your eyes.
Predator: an animal that gets energy by killing and eating
other animals.
Prey: any animal that is killed and eaten by another animal.
end
DO How many fish can this fur seal eat as it swims through the
THIS Bering Sea?___________________
DO Warmer areas of the ocean are shown on this maze in red,
THIS cooler areas are shown in blue. Are there more fish in the
warmer areas or the cooler areas?___________________
If a fur seal finds five fish to eat for every mile it swims, how many
miles does the seal have to swim to eat 20 fish?______________
Satellite tag: a device scientists use to track where animals
travel in the wild. Scientists attach satellite tags to animals they
want to study. The tag sends a signal to a satellite and then back
to earth telling the scientists where the animal has travelled.
Satellite: a natural or artificial object orbiting a larger object.
For example, the Moon is a natural satellite of the Earth.
SCUBA diver: a person who swims underwater using special
breathing equipment including an air tank.
Species: a group of plants or animals that can reproduce with
each other and whose offspring (babies) can also reproduce.