A few dozen youngsters from out of town sloshed through the mud looking for non-local critters at Middle Harbor Shoreline Park last week.

Their messy search was part of a weeklong field trip organized by a Midwest university and an East Coast science center.

The students from several schools in Muncie, Ind., and the St. Cecilia parochial school in San Francisco were in Oakland to learn about "invasive" species, or various animals from throughout the world that somehow end up in the San Francisco Bay — often by catching a ride in the ballast water of cargo ships.

"I love that I get to go on the beach and see tons of creatures I've never heard of before," said Hannah Calvert, 8, of Muncie. "We don't have beaches like this in Indiana."

Scientists from the Romberg Tiburon Center in Tiburon taught the students about non-native

species currently found in the bay, such as crabs originally from Europe, plankton from Asia and sea squirts from the Atlantic coast.

Such species can cause major problems in their new environments, and so far, about 230 of them have been documented in the bay, scientists said.

The burrowing Chinese Mitten Crab, for example, wound up populating the Sacramento River Delta, tunneling into levies and creating headaches for farmers, said research biologist Basma Mohammad, who works at the Romberg center.

Students seemed excited and impressed by the animals in the bay.

"These worms are awesome!" said one San Francisco student standing at the water's edge.

"Do you guys want to dissect this?" asked another student, holding a very much alive crab.

A television crew was on hand to film students and scientists at the beach, with its panoramic view of the bay, San Francisco and massive cargo ships sailing into port just a few hundred yards away.

Schools throughout the country reportedly are able to watch the field trip on the Internet.

The program is sponsored by Ball State University in Indiana, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Maryland and the Best Buy Children's Foundation.

"I love that I get to go on the beach and see tons of creatures I've never heard of before. We don't have beaches like this in Indiana."

Hannah Calvert, 8,

MUNCIE

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