We started with the Oceanarium's Lobster Museum, where semi-retired sea captain Reggie spoke to us for half an hour about the high-risk life lobstermen undertake. He’s been a lobsterman since 1951 and taught us more in those 30 minutes than we could have learned in any book. His voice cracked when he told us just six weeks ago his dearest friend (another lifelong lobsterman) got tangled in a chain while out at sea and lost his life, as have so many others Reggie has known and lost. And yet, Reggie’s voice cracked again moments later, this time with pride, when he bragged on his own 17-year-old grandson who already has his own lobster boat and is showing great promise in the field. It’s a hard life and one impossible to understand unless you’re in those circles. 
Reggie showed the girls one of his unusual blue lobsters and encouraged them to name it. They chose “Big Blue,” as they are born and bred Kentuckians after all. :) They probably don’t truly know what Big Blue means in Kentucky, but they’ve heard the expression often enough that it slid right off their tongues without hesitation. 
We moved on to the fascinating Lobster Hatchery. Can you see the thousands of black eggs running down this female lobster’s tail? 
And these tanks hold thousands of baby lobsters, which are released into the ocean near Bar Harbor when they’re about an inch long. It takes years to grow a lobster big enough to eat, so the hatchery simply exists to educate the public and doesn’t actually raise the lobsters beyond a few weeks old. It’s estimated only 1/10th of 1% of baby lobsters actually make it to adulthood, which is why the mama lobsters have thousands of them at a time. And by the way, while I don’t think lobsters are attractive in any way, those inch-long babies border on adorable. You can clearly see a fully-formed lobster, complete with big claws, just in miniature. Awwww…After the hatchery came the Discovery Pool, where we got to see and touch some of the sea life picked up in lobster pots around Bar Harbor. The girls touched sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and many other unusual creatures.
Erika with a sea star
Madelyn with a horseshoe crab
Victoria with a baby sea star (which was all of about an inch big!)What a fantastic day for all of us, just like so many we’ve enjoyed in this wonderful state.
3 comments:
That looks like so much fun. We used to go to the little aquariums that dot the Northern California and Oregon coast lines when I was younger. Very cool stuff. I always walk away thinking how cool it must be to be a marine biologist.
I agree, I've always thought it would be fun to be a marine biologist as well. I want to see pictures of the baby lobsters! LOL
That blue one was cool! I would have loved to touch and hold the other things as well! I'm such a kid sometimes!
I would have LOVED to get a picture of the baby lobsters, but they're flung around in rough water to simulate an ocean and my camera couldn't catch them. They can't keep them still because the little buggers will kill each other!
Post a Comment