Feet in the water

As part of the oral preparation for the certificate on 'the marine world facing the challenge of sustainable development', the students in class 3-5 of the Collège Charles III de Monaco went to the cove of Saint Jean–Cap–Ferrat. They tell us about their educational outing.

«We took a train to Beaulieu-sur-mer, where we went with our professors Mesdames Lelièvre, Vatrican and Duborget on foot to the beach of La Passable.

When we arrived, two facilitators from the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco explained to us what we were going to do. They presented us with the activity that was taking place in 2 stages. 

First, go find the most marine living beings in the water and observe them. We therefore equipped ourselves: buckets, landing nets, shoes for water, then we put 'our feet in the water'. We have started the research and captures of marine wildlife.

We found plenty of species such as sea urchins, hermit crabs, two octopuses, sea cucumbers, shells, starfish, anemones, algae, plants such as posidonia, an endemic species starting to become rare in the Mediterranean... and we were able to observe a crab that quickly escaped and even a shell of mother-of-pearl.

After an hour, we pooled what we had found so that the two specialists, Patricia and Victoria, could explain in detail the different animals and plants of our marine ecosystem.

The class sat on a drifted wooden trunk on the beach and exchanged with the museum’s facilitators. They toured the different species collected by explaining their anatomy, their way of life and telling us anecdotes about the specimens.

Scientific genres:

Sea cucumber = Holothruoidea
Hermit Bernards = Paguroidea
Sea urchins= Echinoidea
Posidonia = Posidonia
Octopus = Octopus

We have noted that in the Mediterranean Sea, there are several species belonging to different families such as crustaceans (crab, shrimp...), cephalopods like octopus or even cetaceans (dolphin, sperm whale...) and that these organisms are in danger because of our human activities and global warming.

We were able to see live the behaviors of certain animals: indeed, we learned that sea cucumbers, when they feel stressed, expel sticky white filaments (cuvier tubules) to immobilize the assailant. While the octopuses contract violently and eject part of their internal organs.

At the end of our observations, we released all the species into their natural environment.

We really liked this outing because we were able to learn on the field and see all the information in situ.

"Our favorite moment was to put our feet in the water, to observe species and learn lots of new things!" (Sofia and Intila)

«I learned to bring another look at the sea and the life it shelters» (Etienne)

"I enjoyed sharing moments with my class and being able to observe and touch marine species" (Viola ) .