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!