MOON JELLY?

Hey there how’s it going,

is the moon clear?

Once we got there our group started setting up the materials so they were available to be in use. This week at the Boston Children's Museum as the kids started to arrive there wasn’t much that we could show them, due to the low tide and a different fish used as our bait.

Some of the kids wanted to fish instantly while others just wanted to go view the touch tank filled with green crabs. Today at the Boston Children's Museum we caught our very first moon jelly. A moon jelly isn’t much of a picky eater, they often feed on planktonic species. Moon jellies are related to other jellyfish but don’t always show the same traits as them. Depending on the moon jelly’s diet they can change colors with what they eat.

Once we caught the moon jelly fish with our group net we started to show the children. Some children where afraid to pick up the moon jelly thinking that it would sting them. Moon jelly's wont sting humans or other animals unless they need to. The moon jelly was safely released back into the Harbor without any injuries, only used for educational purposes through the Save the Harbor Save the Bay program. Sometimes local people who live in Boston or nearby aren't really aware of what types of jelly fish the bay holds.

-Sincerely Edward Calderon

Luck of a Fishmerman

We are three days in and I've almost gotten every new Harbor Explorer's name down! Last week we planned ahead and wanted to use the flounder (from fish prints) as crab/lobster trap bait. Little did we know, the smell of a dead fish exponentially worsens without ice in a cooler. On Monday when Sean took out the cooler with the flounder, every inch of his face indicated that what he was carrying towards us some wicked funky fish. I volunteered to fillet that flounder and it was not one of my best decisions. When I tell you ladies and gents that my hand smelled gross, I mean no amount of soap throughout the various trips to the bathroom that day made a difference. With that said lunch was a blast!

Within these past three days I had my first experience kayaking and sailing at Pier's Park! Our Harbor Explorers love to search along the edges of the rocks for periwinkles and any other sea creatures! I don't know how, but somehow after I went kayaking I came back to two moon jellies and two star fish in a cooler.

                         

Now you're probably wondering why this post is titled the "Luck of a Fisherman", well I actually dropped a whole mackerel off the docks and into the water. This was one of those "I just messed up so hard" moments. I quickly batted my eyes around for some device to make he best of the situation, and found myself an unused crab trap. In my head the chances of me getting that mackerel back was almost zero, but a guy has to try anyway! In the worst case scenario, I would end up with a mackerel at the bottom of the waters, with a crab trap on top of it. Not exactly the best way to catch crabs/ nor is it the ended set up of the crab trap, but you can only do so much. After a few minutes I checked the trap to see if I could grab any more crabs, and what I pulled up left my baffled. A feet or two from the surfacing, the crab trap had an outline of a fish in it! I RECOVERED THE MACKEREL!!! That's why you should always try and give everything your best effort! Your odds are never zero unless you don't try. Thanks for reading my posts as of so far!

By Raymond Chai

Star Fish and Moon Jellies

Today was a pretty interesting day at Piers Park. While some kids were on the dock catching crabs or fishing, others were taken out on kayaks. I stayed upon the dock with the kids that wanted to pull up the crab traps. All of a sudden, from a far I hear kids yelling "we got a jellyfish, we got a jellyfish." I got up and made my way to the edge of the dock. It was a moon jelly. I took the moon jelly and put it in its own little touch tank. The kids were so fascinated and curious. They asked questions like, "Can't jellyfish sting you?" "How do you know if it is a girl or boy?" and "How do they eat?" I was glad to answer their questions, even though for some of the questions; google was my helper. Roughly 15 minutes later, I peeped Sean going into the water and I was wondering what he was doing. Turns out that Paula and him found some starfish. Never before while I have been working with Save the Harbor have we had a starfish or even two in a touch tank. We got two moon jellies and two starfish. Excited to see what else this summer has planned for me.

 til next time,

-Ary