Overview of Opihi data collection

Here at Kihei Charter School we got grant money from the people at the B-WET program. So this last quarter we have been collecting data on opihi and sending it to the great people at the B-WET program (NOAA and DLNR).

Opihi are animals that live on the rocks. The scientific name for opihi is Cellana exarata. They live by the splash zone with mid high wave exposure. Opihi are small creatures that live in their shell. Most of the Opihi found in Hawai’i have black shells. But some Opihi in some other areas have different colored shells. Opihi grow their shell by using nutrients in the water. Their shell grows from the top down.

We collect the data on the Opihi by using these tools called calipers. Calipers tell us the size of the opihi. It is important to get this data because if we see that the opihi population is going down drastically we know somebody is illegally taking them from their environment.

Writing by Remy deRochemont
Image by KCS Science Class