university of south carolina

During the fall semester at the University of South Carolina, I was enrolled in a course called Marine Science 311. This course included a lab that met once each week. My favorite lab that I was able to partake in was one entitled Sea Urchin Fertilization. I had never really taken the time to consider how such alien looking organisms would be able to reproduce until I was involved in this study. As it turns out, I learned that sea urchin egg fertilization actually happens outside of the body in open sea water. In order to recreate this in a lab setting, my classmates and I had access to several sea urchins, their genders unknown to us. In order to determine the genders of the organisms, we had to inject each individual with .5 M potassium chloride.  Once injected, we were…

As the years progress, the use of the oceans for recreational purposes has increased dramatically, leading to a greater number of people living near the ocean, traveling to the ocean, and using recreational boats throughout our oceans. Many don’t realize that, although jet skiing, parasailing, and fishing are all great entertainment activities used at the…