Seagarden

When we looked underneath the dock, we got a big surprise! The underside of the dock is covered by beautiful "sea gardens" filled with all kinds of creatures. In this picture, you can see (green) feather duster worms,  (white) tunicates--can you see their air intake and discharge syphons?--and an orangish sponge. Quite likely, there are barnacles and mussels, as well. When you look closely, you can see lots of activity in these gardens.

All the conspicuous animals in this sea garden are filter-feeders (they draw water through their gills, or other organs, in order to sift out suspended food particles). Based on what you've learned so far, how do you think they would be affected by (a) oil on the surface of the water, and/or (b) oil dispersed in the water column?

(08.09.04, unknown)