Whale Observation

In science class, we are doing a humpback whale observation lab. The idea is to collect data on the whales early and later on in the whale season here to test multiple hypotheses regarding the whales. We measure distance and direction of the whales, we count the whales, and we record their behaviors.

My personal research question is "Are humpback whales closer to the shore earlier in the season or later?" I hypothesize that they are closer to shore earlier in the season, where the younger calves can be sheltered from predators by local coves.

To observe the whales, we went to MacGregor's point, on the road to Lahaina. I had fun observinig the whales, but we only saw two pods.


To measure the distance of the whales from shore, we used clinometers. A clinometer is a protractor with a weight on a string. It is used to measure angles relative to the Earth. Using this device, along with a GPS, we were able to find our distanc from the whales, by taking our angle relative to the whales, and then multiplying the tangent of that angle by our altitude.

Tide pools

There are many different invertebrates living in the tide pools on Maui's shores, but most are classified under nine phyla. Porifera refers to sponges. Cnidarians are jellyfish and corals. Platyhelminthes are flatworms. Nemotoda refers to roundworms. Mollusks are shelled animals like snails and bivalves. Annelids are segmented worms. Arthropods have jointed limbs, like crabs. Echinoderm (meaning spiny skin) refers to star fish and sea urchins. Chordata refers to fish.

For a recent lab in science class, it was our job to go to some tide pools and see how many of these types of invertebrates we could find. We wanted to know which phyla were most diverse and abundant. I expected Arthropods to be the most diverse and Mollusks to be the most abundant. It turns out, that Mollusks overwhelmed all other phyla in both areas.

I thought learning about these animals was the best part of the lab. I found that many of the phyla and species we learned about I had never seen. I still haven't seen many of them.