Lighted Boat Parade

Last night was the Mystic Holiday Boat Parade and Toy Drive which takes place on the Mystic River. Local boats compete for such titles as "Miss Mystic" and "Most Charismatic Crew". For the 2nd year in a row, the Envirolab III was all decked out with very ocean themed Christmas lights and decorations, and beautiful sea creature cut outs made by Megan Barker, Kirsten Tomlinson, Chris Dodge, Anthony Wasley, and Danielle Banko.

As you can probably guess, the Project O gang won "Most Charismatic Crew" for our holiday cheer!

This is a photo that was in the Living section of The Day newspaper today as we dock in downtown Mystic. What a beautiful shot!

http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=3dd1fd51-031a-408c-b402-4cd11b5900a1

New addition to the wet lab

If you've been inside the Project Oceanology building recently, you may have noticed a new addition to our wet lab.

Thanks to the hard work of instructors Anthony Wasley and Chris Dodge, there are now two beautiful salt water tanks. The smaller is 120 gallons, and the larger is 220 gallons. These tanks will be used to display our local marine life, and can be seen from inside Fin's Cafe if you feel like having some lunch while observing the animals.

Currently the tanks house seastars, a seahorse, a pipefish, black sea bass, a northern puffer, a lobster, porgy, spider crabs, a rock crab, and flounder.

All the PVC piping for the plumbing was done by Anthony and Chris! Great job, guys!

Cool fish!

This year in New Bedford we caught a fish we do not often catch!

This is a Flying Gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans). Check out that blue coloration! It is a bottom dwelling fish related to the sea robin and has spines all over it's head, including two that extend from the gill covers. Thanks to the Our Sisters School in New Bedford for sending us the pictures!

New Bedford, Mass

Thank you to all of our schools who came aboard the Enviro-Lab in New Bedford, Massachusetts!

If you were wondering what happens in New Bedford, here is a peak:
















Students help haul a trawl net into the Enrivo-Lab
























and they have a chance to help identify organisms through scientific exploration

What's This?

This creature was found washed up on Ocean Beach in New London on Sunday, September 29th. It has yet to be identified. Any guesses?




Photos by Dana Jensen/The Day

We Never Had Passengers Like This Before!

During the end of August and the beginning of September, Project O teamed up with Mystic Marinelife Aquarium staff to release some seal pups back into the wild. The seals had been abandoned by their mother and aquarium staff took care of the seal pups until they were old enough to catch live fish on their own. They spent their ride on the Enviro-lab in a cage, for everyone's safety and were released into Fishers Island Sound. Some of them circled the boat a few times, reluctant to leave, others swam away as soon as they hit the water.

Are You a Resident of Connecticut?

OceanCamp - An Ocean Diversity Institute has been awarded a grant from the State of Connecticut. What does that mean for you? We're looking for students in 5th grade through 12th to spend a week with us to do some hands-on, inquiry-based marine science research. You'll be part of a small research team where you will collect data, perform lab tests and analyze results using oceanographic technology. You'll get to meet students from different parts of Connecticut, cities and rural areas alike, and get a chance to be out on the water, discovering the rich diversity of life beneath the waves. Give us a call to find out more about it - 445-9007!

Long Island Sound Facts

Did you know?
Area of LIS: 1320 sq. miles
Drainage Basin or Watershed:16,820 sq. miles
Average Depth: 63 ft. (60-120 ft.)
Volume: 18 trillion gallons
Coastline: 600 miles
Salinity Ranges: 23 parts per thousand in the western end to 35 parts per thousand at the eastern end
Source of Fresh Water: 90% of the freshwater comes from three major Connecticut Rivers - the Thames, Housatonic, and Connecticut
Temperature: 32 degrees F in winter and 73 degrees F in summer
Tides: two high and two low each day with the greatest tides in the west
Population Living within 50 miles: 20 million people
Estimated Value to the Local Economy: $5.5 billion per year
Fish Populations: more than 120 species of finfish, including 21 tropical species that stray here seasonally; at least 50 species spawn in the Sound

Facts and figures compliments of

Seals

These are just a few of the more than 250 Seals that passengers saw on our March 22nd Seal Watch.

Special thanks to photographer Kurt Hamel for the beautiful photograph!

The Walrus Dance

There are no walruses in Long Island Sound, but they are considered part of the marine mammal family. Harbor seals are classified as marine mammals too and they can be found off the coast of Connecticut in months when the water is colder, especially November through April. This particularly energetic walrus has rhythm and the moves!

We Get Lonely During CMT Testing

It's that time of year again - CMT's. While you sharpen your pencils and exercise your brains, we anxiously await your return.
Our boats sit idle at the dock.
No lines in our cafeteria. It's quiet and empty.
Our plankton nets have nothing better to do than hang out.
Hurry up and finish so that we can get back to wrapping our hands around all things wet, scaly and slippery!
To all of you answering science questions for the first time, we hope the answers come easily for you! Good luck. You can do it!

Summer Camp News

Summer program applications are now available at:


http://oceanology.org/kidsprogram.html

Summer Camp Dates

Do you have plans for this summer yet?

We offer a variety of programs during the summer and on weekends. Our camp programs are for students who have completed 5th through 12th grade. Camp information and dates can be found at:

http://oceanology.org/kidsprogram.html

Camp applications should be available by the end of January.