Jake Heare Research Central: Oyster Bay 5-1-14

5-1-14

Shelton WA
Oyster Bay/Totten Inlet
Start Time: 9:30 AM
Finish Time: 5:30 PM
Temps: Mid 60s to Mid 80s

Participants: Jake Heare

I arrived earlier in the morning. I pulled up the hanging devices and broke them down into individual trays. I collected dead, counted live, and photographed trays for size/growth for later analysis. Upon completing these metrics the trays were reorganized into stacks containing one tray from each population at a random level in stack (top, middle, bottom). Since one stack is missing we were unable to completely reorganize the trays as such. One hanging tray has 2 Hood Canal Pops and 1 North Sound pop tray. 2 stacks were then rebuilt and hung off the docks.

The 3rd stack was treated with an epsom salt mixture to anesthetize the animals for brooding larvae inspection. One tray was dosed at a time in a 10 gallon mixture of 50/50 sea water/freshwater with 6-8 cups of epsom salt in them (roughly 75-80 g/L). Gaping oysters in each tray were individually inspected for brooding larvae. Once inspection was completed, trays were then transferred to a tub filled with 10-15 gallons of fresh seawater to recover from treatment for 30 minutes to 1 hour depending on recovery rate. In the first tray we had 25 animals open, in the second we had 3, in the third we had 4. None of these animals showed signs of brooding larvae.