embedding marine non-native species …
Tonight instead of kayaking in the rain (which I was looking forward to) I have been pressing seaweeds. But I can paddle any time and this batch of fresh wakame had to be dealt with imediately. From past experience I know if I leave it till tomorrow I’ll have a bucket of slime. Not nice.
So now they are in the press and the kayaking club have gone without me I have the evening to explain why.
The wakame is part of a commission I have been asked to do for ERCCIS (Environmental Records for Cornwall and Isles of Scilly) They want me to embed in resin some marine non-native species for a European Interreg 3C (Channel Catchment Cluster) project.
It probably won’t be possible to embed all the species but we are trying as many as we can.
The Darwin’s barnacles I did next were much more straight forward. I was given various object with the offending barnacle attached to embed. My favourite was the green shoe. Sadly not used as it was too big and an awkward shape.
Here are these three finished with Cornwall Wildlife Trust logo and name of species embedded within them.
So far so good!
Then came the wakame…
The identifying features of wakame, Undaria pinnatifida, are the central midrib, the wavy finger fronds and the frilly holdfast and this piece has it all. I pressed it on tissue which will become transparent when I embed it in the resin, with the holfast dangling out the end of the boards.
All the way from Plymouth the next batch of wakame. See how this one works. Then I have wireweed, slipper limpet, oh and a few other things I can’t remember right now. The one I am really looking forward to is the mitten crab.
More posts on this project to come.
This isn’t the first time I have been involved with the issue of marine invasives. Two years ago I was commissioned to design a board illustrating some of the species causing problems in marine waters. It can be found in the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth. The board is down in the tidal zone where you can see the tide rising and falling through big glass window.