Houston

I have been following the real time activities of a NOAA research vessel off the Massachusetts coast.  See link

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/okeanos/media/exstream/exstream.html

You get to experience the data, views, and conditions experienced by this research expedition in real time...in your PJS, with a beverage...and with expert color commentary.  No duct taping the bunk sheets to the mattress on a R/V reality needed.  No guessing what the strange albino thing is.  An expert tells you!!!  Watch the different views and data feeds and experience what it must be like to be in the control room in Houston ( a tiny bit perhaps?)

So completely interesting and inspiring and yikes how can there still be so much to learn?  Yes.  Please use my taxes for this.  Excuse me while I go grab a beverage and play desktop scientist.

Be the Difference

This group came to Hampton at 3:30 on a Saturday to participate in our daily beach clean up.  They braved parking and traffic and 10 of them helped clean the beach.  And the beach....well the beach was so CLEAN today except for the ever present cigarette butts.  The kids were calling what little trash they saw and racing to collect it.  8# of trash was collected in total.  Afterwards critters were visited and crafts were made by even the biggest of the kids.  Thank you so much!

Wish Upon a Sea Star

Have you ever seen a shooting star and made a wish? Well, we wished on our sea stars that our touch tank in Hampton would be totally awesome and people would love it. And.....guess what!? Our wish came true. People love our touch tank and we have had the pleasure of educating and meeting over 2,500 people in our first month. We couldn't have had this much success without our amazing animals.

Pictured below are the fabulous Jonah crab and a large Northern sea star. Jonah crabs are a native of New England. They like to hide themselves in the rocks of the tidal zone. When handled they often draw into themselves; almost like the way a tortoise draws into its shell. They have a bumpy and pinkish colored carapace (shell) with black tips on the end of their pincher claws. They are often confused with rock crabs, another native crab of New England. However, rock crabs have a smoother and pointer carapace which is often more red in color. Yet, they are still hard to tell apart but the crab pictured below is an excellent example of a Jonah crab.

As for our sea star, it is the most common sea star found in the area. They have five arms. They may have six arms but this is very rare and then they are called a Polar star. If they lose an arm it will grow back. This is called autonomy. The regrowth may take months or years and at this time the animals is susceptible to disease and predation. The Northern sea stars have small spikes on top to protect their soft bodies. They move very slowly and can travel only one mile in a week. I thought snails were slow! Sea stars enjoy feeding on mussels, clams and other shelled animals. They shoot their stomachs outside of their body, excrete digestive juices and then suck their stomach back in once their food is digested.

We love our animals and you will too. Hope to see you soon.

~ Your marine loving friends at the Blue Ocean Society