seining down under the manhattan bridge overpass

 we went out to dumbo this morning (after dropping ellen's dance props at her storage facility). the last time we went seining, chanda was too young to go into the water with the staff members, so i signed up for a class that a fellow nychea member had organized.

 esa, the brooklyn bridge park educator, is holding a striped sea bass. it's much bigger than the one we saw four years ago on a similar field trip. there is much less beach than there used to be, so the class has moved directly beneath the bridge. 

esa used a microphone but it was still difficult to hear with the trains going by overhead.

 chanda is getting ready to go out.

there wasn't a lot in the net . . green sea lettuce, a small sea bass and . . 

comb sea jellies that they picked off to put back into the water.

 after the lecture the staff members handed out scavenger hunt papers . . 

 and the group spread out to find shells and sea glass and maybe a few dead crabs . . 

 the currents can get rough as the east river is actually an estuary with the hudson river and the long island sound coming in from the north, and the atlantic ocean coming in from the south. the flooding during hurricane sandy was very bad and the terrain here has really changed. 

the shorter beach . . 

the shorter beach means that you will get wet when the barges and boats pass by . . 

 part of a chimney or just part of an old apartment building?

 containers of different marine life that they find.

 comb jellies . . 

 an atlantic silverside which we saw during out last visit also, and which are good examples of counter shading. they have the dark top to blend in with the dark atlantic water so as not to be seen by a hawk, and the light underbelly so as to blend in with the shiny surface of the water as seen by a larger fish predator.

an asian crab, native to china, japan, korea and russia. probably introduced to north america through ballast water.

 you can tell this is a male crab from the marking on his abdomen which looks like the empire state building.

 more worn red bricks . . 

 the park has changed so much in four years with new buildings and parks and art projects. it felt very different.

 with homeschooling friends they have babysat for since the one on the left was a baby . . 

 the latest art installation by deboroah kass: oy/yo.

 water towers . . 

 day lilies!

 sharing a chocolate chip/chocolate ice cream sandwich cookie from the "melt" truck.

the brooklyn bridge parks education center which only just opened in september.

seining in DUMBO

 today morgana, chanda and i left the apartment at 10 am to take the f train to DUMBO (down under the manhattan bridge overpass) to the brooklyn bridge park. we were on our way to a nychea field trip: seining in the east river.

morgana was very excited to pass water street. one of her favorite books takes place on water street during the time the brooklyn bridge was being built (1883): water street by patricia riley giff. it's the third book of the nory ryan trilogy (nory ryan's song, maggie's door).

the views of the bridges and of manhattan are spectacular and breathtaking. and look at that carousel! brooklyn bridge park was created on the site of the old fulton ferry landing, where the ferries shuttled brooklyn and manhattan residents back and forth (beginning in 1642 and ending when the brooklyn bridge was completed). the area was a busy waterfront until the 1950's when competition from other east coast cities closed the docks and warehouses of brooklyn and manhattan. the construction of the BQE at this time also separated brooklyn heights from the water. in response to the port authority's decision to sell the vacant piers for commercial development, the friends of the fulton ferry landing was created in 1985. in 2002, mayor bloomberg and governor pataki signed an agreement stating that new york state and new york city would help create and maintain an 85 acre park. that's rather amazing! those fulton ferry friends were very influential! construction began in 2008, and the first six acres opened in march of 2010. this was my first time visiting. i was . . incredibly impressed. it was just beautiful. it was the educational opportunities being offered that truly impressed me.

here we are walking north towards the sandy cove where the seining would take place. the williamsburg bridge is in the background.

what is seining?? i first heard of the term in the spring when i opened a nychea post and found a listing by a member for "seining with the brooklyn bridge park conservancy." seining means to fish or catch with a seine. a seine is a fishing net that hangs vertically in the water with floaters at the top edge and sinkers at the bottom. it's from the old english word segne, "drag-net," from the west germanic sagina, borrowing from the latin sagena (which is a source for the french "seine"). it's also from the greek "sagene," meaning a fishing net or a hunting net. the brooklyn bridge park conservancy uses a seine for catching and cataloging sea life.

the east river is not actually a river. it's a tidal strait connecting upper new york bay and long island sound. the currents are strong and can be dangerous. it can reverse it's flow up to four times daily.

morgana really enjoyed going out with the staff members of the conservancy. they wanted the youth to be at least 16 years of age, and we had to sign a waiver. (the constant loud hum you hear are the cars and trains rattling by on the bridge overhead.)

 did you expect the net to be teeming with creatures? i think i did! nevertheless, we found many diverse samples of life in the strait.

 i think chanda is picking out a little sea squirt here.

 it had a little eyeball. or it looked like an eyeball. it's called the atlantic rough sea squirt and is a filter feeder. they usually attach themselves to pilings, boats, seaweed, etc.

this is cynthia, the biologist: smart, enthusiastic (a fast talker!) and great with all the kids.

here she is explaining about an oyster toadfish that was found.

here she is showing chanda the atlantic silverside fish. there were many of these little ones.

(a photo of the photographer . . )

cynthia explained counter shading. the silverside has a dark top to blend in with the dark atlantic water as seen by a hawk, and a silvery underbelly to blend in with the sunshiny surface of the water as seen by a larger (i.e. bass) fish. she also pointed out how you can see it's brain through it's scales, and the beginning of it's spinal column.

they're slimey and produce more slime when under duress. the genus for the silverside is menidia.

 

the creatures and plant life are put in buckets and then returned after all the educational groups of the day are finished. there was one other group after us.

three different types and shades of seaweed were found exemplifying depth coloration.

 
the green sea lettuce (found closer to the surface); 

 delesseria sanguinea, or sea beech, representing the red middle seaweeds;

 and the brown seaweeds found closer to the bottom (rockweed on the left and i'm not sure of the one on the right).

morgana pointing out a small brown fish that was found.

the biologist was excited to see this as it was the first time the fish had been collected in the net. she thought it was a type of sea bass, but wasn't sure and planned to take it home to look more closely at it under a microscope.

 she explained to the children why she thought it was a sea bass by examining it's spine, the color and shape of it's tail and fins, and the pucker of it's mouth.

comb jellies were also collected and she explained how they have lobes with the main body in the center. she mentioned how she's seen them communicate with bioluminescence, which they also use to warn predators away.

 blue crab shells were found . . and blue crabs!! this one snapped onto the fingers of one of the staff members.

she said it hurt! it wouldn't let go until it was placed back in the water. then it immediately detached and scurried away!

 it was a really fun afternoon! later in the day chanda explained the differences between a male blue crab and a female blue crab to me.

 is it real? or just a painted backdrop?

 an art installation. it'll be fun to come back in the future and remember seeing it installed.

as we were watching the sculpture being placed, morgana pointed out a cormorant fishing in the water. she said she saw it dive . . and it stayed down for a few minutes to finally resurface and dive again. they sit very low in the water. only their necks can be seen.

 these people are installing moss on a building. they used paintbrushes to brush the back with glue. it must be a strong glue.

 a bakery!

 we tried a few cookies. my favorite was this oat cake with crystalized ginger.

back in our neighborhood, several families were having a bake sale for obama! chanda and i bought a brownie.