workbook SEATTLE AQUARIUM Name Use this map to find your way to the areas in this Workbook. 1 Window on Washington Waters 2 Tide Pools

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1 3 Name 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

2 What does the Seattle Aquarium do to conserve energy and resources? Try this scavenger hunt. Look for the green things 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. 1 WINW ON WASHINGTON WATERS solar panels recycle bins rain barrels low flush toilets hand dryers Draw a picture of you or your family doing something to help 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. 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. Draw the animals you see in the habitat pictured below. Write the name of each animal next to the picture you draw. (Try this: use the Fish Finder!) Ideas: Pack a nowaste lunch Recycle and/ or compost Ride your bike rather than using a car Or come up with your own idea

3 A Rainbow in the Tide Pools 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. 2 TIDE POOLS Collecting in Hawaii 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. 3 PACIFIC CORAL REEF 8 7 Do you see a rainbow of animals in the tide pools? Try to find each of the animals below. How many of each can you find? Write the number in the box next to each animal. Don t forget to touch the animals gently with your science finger! Seattle 6 Hawaii 5 red California sea cucumber green sea anemone white plumose anemone Pretend you are on the Aquarium s dive team. This is the collecting wish list. Circle each of the fish as you find them in the Pacific Coral Reef exhibit. 4 pufferfish, longer than 6 inches 3 orange sea star purple sea urchin If you could be any animal that you see here in the tide pools, what would it be and why? tang, longer than 3 inches triggerfish, shorter than 12 inches 2 unicornfish, longer than 8 inches 1 Sometimes the divers don t find everything on the wish list. How many of these species did you find today?

4 Beaks That Help Birds Eat Each beak helps the bird catch a specific type of food. This allows birds like our shorebirds to live happily on the same beach. each bird. Draw a line between each bird and its prey (food). Hint: read the clues to help you find the perfect prey for 4 SHORE BIRDS Who Eats Whom in Puget Sound 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. 5 UNDERWATER ME 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. 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. golden plover I eat a shallowburrowing animal with pinchers. salmon harbor seal plankton herring shrimp crab worm Choose one of the birds in the exhibit and watch it for a few minutes. What kind of bird is it? mussels What is it doing? Describe how its beak might help it catch its prey. Based on this diagram, what do you think would happen if we put a harbor seal in the Underwater Dome exhibit? Aquarium SCUBA divers bring frozen herring into the Underwater Dome. What animal might they feed the herring to? What color is the water in the Underwater Dome today? If it is greenish or brownish, that means there is a lot of plankton in the water!

5 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. 6 SEA OTTERS 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. Draw a tag on the back 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. Photo of a Fur Seal Tag 7 NORTHERN FUR SEALS In 2008 there were 1073 sea otters along the Washington 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? If a NOAA scientist tags a fur seal in July and the fur seal 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?

6 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. start map credit: NASA 8 NORTHERN FUR SEALS How many fish can this fur seal eat as it swims through the Bering Sea? Warmer areas of the ocean are shown on this maze in red, 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? end Glossary: 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. 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. 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. 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.