Salp Soup

 

Newport harbour is awash with these salps (Thalia democratica I think)

Plus there are the usual swarms of comb jellies and a hydromedusaae I can not identify.

 

 

Third Beach Coastal Camp Enemy #1

Lady Crab

   

Waterscorpion-should it be in saltwater?

Hello,

A Norman Bird Sanctuary Summer Camp counselor asked me what this animal was, found at "Crab Town" on Third Beach, Middletown. Wasn't sure, looked it up, and it turns out to be a waterscorpion (Ranatra sp.) Rare sight clearly, however the question is, should it have been in salt water? I think not.

 

 

Aquarium in Full Stride

The Minnow Aquarium is in full swing. Of the three years I have been operating it, this is by far and above the best season so far. There is way too much to cover in this post, however here are some photos.

Yours truly

Monthly DEM visit

Barrelfish

Banded rudderfish

Atlantic needlefish

Presumably a crevalle jack

Comb jelly

Any ideas? White perch perhaps?

Newport's Largest Electric Ray

My friend Nicole called me last night and told me to hoof down to the docks at the bottom of my street to check out this floating expired fish.

 

    About four feet long, and over 100-pounds, this was an Atlantic torpedo- Rhode Island's largest electric ray capable of delivering a charge of all of 220-volts.

Interesting Marine Animals a and Trip to Berlin, NH

The winter and early-spring are long gone. I spent the recent colder months investigating planktonic life down on the docks in Newport, RI. 

These were some of the bizarre creatures that I was able to see in only a few feet of water.  My largest hindrance is the poor camera work.

These are arrow worms- they have their own phylum Chaetognatha.

These two are of a Cumacean shrimp

These are American eel elvers. The eyes glowed in the dark. Friends in Maine made a lot on money off these animals this past spring- up to $1,500lb. They sell to the Chinese who grow them and sell them to the Japanese who eat them like we eat hot dogs.

Black-eyed hydromedusa

                  

                               Sea gooseberries. You can just make out the iridescence.

                                                             Lion's mane jellyfish

                                                           Isopod Idotea bathica
                                            

 _______________________________________________________________________________

As spring is radily turning into summer, my marine focus has changed from planktonic life to the operation of the aquarium on Third Beach that will open late-June. In the meantime, I did go far inland north to Berlin, New Hampshire; the state’s northernmost city. I climbed four mountains and explored along two river systems. Not much marine life, however along the Androscoggin and Dead Rivers, I did see five species of freshwater fish.

View overlooking Berlin, New Hampshire

Porcupine

Fuzzy image of  hungry bear. I didn't linger

Incredibly, it was 25-degrees Fahrenheit one morning and the Presidential Mountains had tons on snow on them.

Brook trout. Androscoggin River. The fishermen who caught these told me they were brown trout.

           

                                                                White sucker juvenile                                                               

Northern redbelly dace

                                                                   Blacknosed shiner

                                           

Bridled shiner

Water boatman

Nice Finds Last Sunday

Interesting sightings on Sunday, seen from the docks at the end of Extension Street, Newport, RI, at low tide in 1-2 feet of water.

                                           Mating horseshoe crabs. Notice the barnacles.

                                                           First spider crab of the year

Look carefully in these two last photos and you’ll see a portion of a polychaete blood worm, Glycera dibranchiate, a marine annelid.  This specimen was relatively large; all of 15-inches.  At first, when I saw it swimming, I thought it was sea-snake.  Silly me, Atlantic Ocean and all.  By the time I got into the water to try and root it out, it had disappeared, presumably burrowed deep into the sand. Wouldn’t want to get bit by one of these.