Close Encounters with Narragansett Bay

South Kingstown, RI — November 2008

More than ten years ago, Rhode Island native Mark Hall felt compelled to provide hands-on, educational marine science programs for students and their families. So he founded Biomes Marine Biology Center in North Kingstown. In Novemer, Mark brought inhabitants of Biomes’ 600-gallon aquarium into South Kingstown’s elementary schools to allow students a close encounter with life in the waters of Narragansett Bay.

Mark told students that he fell in love with the work of the marine biologist back when he was in elementary school. After studying biology in college, he began to teach. He invited students to visit Biomes Center for fun ways to learn more about saltwater animals. The small size of the aquarium, he explained, allows you to get a closer look and do a lot of touching. “Our shark is very friendly—you can come right up and pet him! And we have a stingray—but do we pet the ray?” “No!” chorused students. And then they turned to the really fun stuff… the live specimens.

Out of Biomes’ travel aquarium first emerged… a splayed, knobby starfish. This five-armed creature, also called a sea star, has the impressive ability to regenerate arms if one is lost to a predator. “Yes, that’s right—a predator is any animal that eats others.” Sometimes a starfish re-grows not just one, but two arms—“I’ve even seen as many as eight arms!"

Another unusual starfish trait is its five eyes, one at the tip of each arm. The starfish does not see what we see, however: its eyes only perceive light and dark. Its vision is sufficient for finding the safest place to hide, like under rocks, always moving towards the dark. Starfish also have hundreds of little feet like suction cups under its arms which enable it to move around. (Click here to find out from Biomes how this ruthless predator eats!)

A wave of excitement greeted the next specimen: a sleek, gleaming horseshoe crab — a female, always bigger than the male. Perhaps the most interesting fact about horseshoe crabs is that they have existed in the same form since before the time of the dinosaurs — more than 300 million years!

The two bumps on the top of the crab are two of its nine eyes. While most of its eyes see only light and dark like the starfish, these two big eyes are compound eyes, like insects, each made up of hundreds of tiny eyes. Despite its intimidating appearance with its ferocious-looking tail, the crab is not dangerous at all and can’t hurt us. In fact, the tail has only one purpose: when turned upside-down, the crab sticks its tail into the ground and flips itself back over using its tail muscles. (Click here to find out more about this extraordinary survivor!)

So don’t ever pick up or carry a horseshoe crab by its tail, because you could harm muscles crucial to its survival. While horseshoe crabs are not yet endangered, today they are in more trouble than ever before.

And for the finale… a prickly, little fish. (Huh?) Mark won’t tell students its name… “You tell ME after it demonstrates a most distinctive skill!” Fish, unlike many other animals, tend to swallow their prey whole. So those that are too big to be swallowed stand a much better of chance of surviving. He held the fish underwater and… guess what happened when he tickled its belly?

The little fish ballooned to many times its original size! Mark raised the fish out of the water for students to see the change for themselves. “Why, it’s a pufferfish!” Gentle handling calmed the pufferfish down; it spat out the water it had swallowed to protect itself, and deflated back to its normal small size. (Click here to find out more about this fierce predator!)

This Norther Pufferfish lives only in cold waters. What might happen to this species if climate change makes the ocean temperature rise out in Narragansett Bay?

Concluding their encounter with some of the marvels of Narragansett Bay, students wrote and drew in their journals. Here is what some students at Matunuck Elementary School had to say:

• “I didn’t know the horseshoe crab was endangered.” [4th grade—Tuoni]


• “The horseshoe crab has been in our world for almost 300 million years. Horseshoe crabs are now becoming endangered. That is very sad.” [5th grade—DeFeo]


• “The pufferfish was so awesome! It was my favorite kind of fish; it puffed up because Mark tickled his belly to think he was being swallowed. When they think they are swallowed, they puff up so the bigger fish could not eat it and it would spit it out. I thought it was kind of secret weapon because the fish that wanted to eat the pufferfish would not know it was a pufferfish. The BAM, it would puff up. That seems cool!” [3rd grade—Fogarty]


• “The pufferfish swallows water so it can’t be eaten. A pufferfish can’t live in warm water or it will die. Global warming is hurting pufferfish.” [5th grade—DeFeo]


• “I never knew a pufferfish swallowed water to get big. I always thought it blows up its cheeks with air. Plus I always wanted to be a marine biologist like the guy in the presentation.” [4th–5th grade—Cole]


• “Narragansett Bay animals will be endangered if global warming gets bad. The pufferfish protects itself by swallowing water to get too big to be swallowed. Starfish have 5 eyes. One on each leg. The orange dot on starfish is where they swallow water. They have lots of suckers on the bottom of them.” [5th grade—DeFeo]
  

By Jon Pincince & Rian Smith
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S.K. Elementary Schools Community Learning Project
“My Place” will continue to cover heritage and history, marine life, aquaculture, agriculture, watersheds, and land conservation in and around Narragansett Bay through the fall. “My People” will address basic human needs and diversity during the winter; and “My Environment” will focus on natural processes and local flora and fauna in the spring.