On December 9th 2023, meet with graduate student Jonah and learn about the fantastic world associated with seagrass meadow.

The seagrass meadows growing in portions of our bays are not just beautiful – they provide many valuable services that we rely on to keep our coasts healthy! From horseshoe crabs to sea bass, all sorts of marine species rely on these meadows for nursery habitat, and the meadows themselves help to sequester carbon from our atmosphere. Come learn more about the seagrass communities thriving around Long Island.

Photo credit: By Milorad Mikota – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102000349

Mysteries of the Turkana Fisheries – How aging fishes tells us a lot about the past and the
future.

James, active member in the Michael Frisk’s laboratory, will be presenting a research project (led by M. Muelh) on the age and growth of a variety of fishes in Lake Turkana, Kenya. Using otolith (small oval calcareous bodies in the inner ear), scale, vertebrae and tissue samples, it’s possible to accurately determine the age and growth of valuable fishery stocks which play an important role in the surrounding population’s diet.

Meet with James and learn techniques to study fish biology.

Scientists determine the age of snapper by counting annual growth rings on their otoliths, similar to counting growth rings in trees. Sources: NOAA FishWatch and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otolith#/media/File:Removing_a_red_snapper_otolith.jpg 

Want to learn more about James