Sea Star Stomach!

Come check out what's happening down at the touch tank at the Thomas Laighton dock (315 Market Street in Portsmouth). Today we read a story about Theodore the Tugboat and made crabs to take home. We also got a special treat by seeing a sea stars stomach! It looks like grey jelly in the photo below. Hope to see you all soon!

Marshmellow Urchins!

Come down to the touch tank at 315 Market Street in Portsmouth, NH to make your very own marshmallow sea urchin! We are back open and in full swing ready for the rest of the summer. Tomorrow is the public feeding day where you can see our crabs get fed. Some of them are quite feisty and fun to watch.

You can also be a sea star for the day and get your picture taken down at the touch tank! Hope to see you there!

Open for Business!

After a day closed for general maintenance, the touch tank down at the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock is back open! Our critters needed a much needed break, and are now bright eyed and bushy tailed just waiting to play with some marine loving children. We will be having story time again on Tuesday at 10:00 am. Come down and check out what's in the tank and leave with a take home craft. Our critters definitely could use some visitors. Hope to see you soon!

Closed for Maitenance

Unfortunately in light of the storm last night, the touch tank lost power. We will be closing the touch tank for Thursday July 19 for general maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience. The tank should be back up and running on Friday July 20 in time for the public feeding at 10:00 am. If you have any questions or concerns please call Abby at 603-203-0403. Thank you for your understanding! Our critters' health and well being is very important to us. Abby

Make your very own seastar!

We have geared up for another great week at the touch tank! We had lots of little explorers join us yesterday for story time and an arts and craft project to make their very own sea star!

Story time featured a cute tale by a school in Portsmouth about Mr. Wok's class and the adventures that his 5 students (Pinchers the hermit crab, Luna the sea star, Clapper the sea scallop, Fred the blue mussel, and Winky the periwinkle) go on. Pinchers was found missing one morning before class, and the other students and Mr. Wok (a rock crab) make their way out to the Isles of Shoals in search of their friend. Unfortunately they find Pinchers inside of a plastic Cocoa-Cola bottle! Please remember to take your trash with you when you leave the beach. Pinchers made it out okay, but we find lots of trash in our oceans that are hurting our marine friends.

We also took a count of all of the periwinkles in our tank. At the moment we have 28 periwinkles, but we think they may be multiplying! Keep an eye on this page to see if the number increases in the coming weeks. Hope to see you again at the touch tank soon!

Don't forget! It's public feeding time down at the touch tank on Friday at 10:00 am!

July 10th Sea Urchin Crafts and Hermit Crab Houses

Another great morning down at the touch tank. We were certainly very busy today! We started the morning off with some arts and crafts down at the tank today. We got out some glue and googly eyes to make your very own sea urchin to bring home with you! Sea urchins have small spines along the surface of their bodies, and at the end of each spine is a small "eye". Although sea urchins can not see like you and I, these "eyes" can sense light and dark.

At 10:00 am we all took a short break from the touch tank animals to sit and hear the story of Hermit Crab and his search for a new home. After story time it was back to the tank to look at and hold some of our hermit crabs. One of our hermit crabs recently changed homes, and the children were able to see the smaller shells where he once lived. Have you ever grown out of your clothes before? Just like when your shirts and pants get too small as you get older, a hermit crabs shell becomes too small for him.

I hope everyone enjoyed themselves down at the touch tank! I certainly did. Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces down at the tank this summer!

We're Open!!

We're open for the season!  Join us during our 2012 hours, or call (603-431-0260) or e-mail (info@blueoceansociety.org) to set up a private tour for your group!

Join us tomorrow (Tuesday, July 10) for story time!! Our Programs Assistant, Abby, will be reading a story and doing a craft highlighting one of our featured creatures. No sign-up necessary, just join us at 10 AM!

2012 Touch Tank Hours:

Open Tuesday through Friday, 9 AM-12 PM
Storytimes: Tuesdays at 10 AM
Feeding Time: Fridays at 10 AM

Fun with Scallops

The touch tank is coming along nicely so far this summer. We are getting everything ready so it is perfect for when we get our programs going! Upon visiting the tank today for a little cleaning and dinnertime I was caught by passengers returning from a cruise on the Thomas Laighton. I even had a few curious people come sneak a peak while I had the tank open. One inquisitive little girl was enjoying the tank very much. I was telling her about the scallops we have in the tank and showing her at all the little black dots inside the shell are eyes! As I picked up our largest scallop (about 3 inches in diameter) out of the water, it squirted water right into her face! After a little shock we were all able to laugh about it, but the girl wasn't feeling very open to holding a scallop anymore. The reason the scallop squirted the water was an escape method. Scallops actually can swim, to an extent, by opening and closing their shells quickly. The water that is forced out propels them through the water, very similar to a jellyfish. Scallops are very interesting creatures and though they may seem a little mean by squirting people, it was only trying to escape and the little girl just happened to be standing in the right spot.

We'd love for you to come learn about the scallops for yourselves and maybe you'll be lucky enough to be greeted by them as the little girl was! Or if you prefer to stay dry they are very interesting to look at through the tank walls. 

Contact us now to see the touch tank!

www.BlueOceanSociety.org

603-431-0260

We're back!

It's just about June, and that means it's just about summer! Though it seems the weather is already in summer mode! This time of year means we're itching to get the touch tank up and running as I'm sure you all are as well. We've been busy collecting critters and already got a fun group. Lots of different crabs, and of all sizes! So far we have rock crabs, a green crab, asian shore crabs, and hermit crabs! We also have lots of sea stars and a few blood stars. A sea urchin and some sea anemones! Have you ever looked into the eyes of a scallop? We just added a couple to the tank so you should come check it out! And of course there are the mussels and barnacles which can be seen filter feeding!

Sea stars and a green sea urchin

Crab pile! 

Hermit Crab

Scallop!

Feeding barnacles!

"flat periwinkle": small snail that lives on rockweed

We are always adding more creatures so come and see for yourself. Have a birthday coming up? Don't know what to do? Bring the kids to the touch tank and have a private session with the animals and one of our knowledgeable educators! For details and when to visit our touch tank see the info on our website or click this link. Touch Tank Info

We (the creatures included) hope to see you soon!