November 16, 2019 – Choosing Fish Wisely

Maureen Murphy, Stony Brook University. The story of mercury in the environment is complex. But the story is also fascinating in that mercury is a naturally occurring element. The story includes intriguing science on how mercury enters into the ecosystem and how it is transformed to more toxic forms by microorganisms, how it biomagnifies in the food chain, how that translates to levels of methylmercury in different fish species, and ultimately how it ends up inside of us. Meet with the project coordinator of The Gelfond Fund for Mercury Research & Outreach and learn about mercury cycles.

Photo credit: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2014/10/sick-from-sushi/index.htm

October 19, 2019

Maria Brown, Stony Brook University. Bat Week is celebrated around the world from October 24-31, 2019. Meet with a local scientist and attend the Pre-Bat Week Event with information for families on how they can host a “Bat Week” event or make a fun Halloween party with a bat theme! Available for everyone will be the Bat Week Cookbook, Facts about bats, Information on forest-dwelling bats vs. cave-dwelling bats, information on White-nose Syndrome, Information on hosting a bat festival, and more! Come and learn about how to build your own bat houses with plans and hear what a bat call is like!

DENNIS DEMELLO © WCS (https://www.wcs.org/wildcards/posts/happy-bat-week)

Saturday September 21 2019, David Black from SBU taught visitors to the LIA about sediment cores and tiny fossils that can be used to figure out about past climates.

Saturday August 17 2019, Emmanuelle Pales Espinosa from SBU presented visitors from LIA, mollusk bivalves and their amazing power to filtrate seawater. A lot of fun and great interaction.

August 17, 2019 –  Strange But True: Shellfish Love Sweets Too!

Emmanuelle Pales Espinosa, Stony Brook University. Everybody love sweets so do oysters, clams and mussels. Join us as we meet with a local scientist to learn how these organisms feed but also how they select their food from a complex plankton mix with no eyes, no hands, no nose and no taste buds. Meet us from noon to 3pm on August 17th.

Crazy scallop (Phoro credit E.Pales Espinosa)

Very busy day at the LI Aquarium this Saturday! Michael Ciaramella informed visitors how to choose and handle with care their seafood. Youngest were also able to build their own fish farm. Fun guaranteed for everybody!

This Saturday we learned about different infections shellfish can have on Long Island and about the diagnostic services shellfish hatcheries use to make sure they have healthy animals. We dissected oysters and mussels and looked at slides of parasites!

Amazing day a the LI Aquarium with Nils and PhD Student Ian Dwyer.

Nils and Ian connected sensors to a fiddler crab and a blue mussel so visitors can observed animal heartbeats directly on a screen like doctors will do! Isn’t it fascinating?!

Norah helped the little ones coloring shellfish and took some funny pictures.