Tegula Fenebralis

Dissection #1
Tegula Funebralis aka The Black Turban Snail

These were EVERYWHERE when we went out to the tide pools last week

I am absolutely not patient enough to sit in a lab for four hours looking through a microscope making impossible cuts and drawing and describing what I see.

We made six drawings and boy am I not an artist!

Live Snail (Drawing #1)

De-shelled anesthetized snail right side up

(Drawing #3)

Green gonad means it is a female

 

Microscope and light set up

Inside the mantle cavity (Drawing #4)

It was so hard to look through a microscope and cut through a layer of tissue with a teeny tiny blade!

After the cut was done, I sat there and drew what I saw. Then repeated the process. 

It took FOREVER!

Definitely need to work on having more patience. 

Somehow I survived. I absolutely felt like I left a part of me behind as I was leaving. I was exhausted and I was so hungry that my stomach was practically eating itself. I was so incredible grumpy and grinding my teeth as I was walking back to my apartment. Let me tell you, I as much as almost started crying when I saw my roommate had made me dinner and it was waiting to be heated up when I got back.
I think I'll keep her. :)