Friday's Blue Moon & Neil Armstrong

The beach at Sea Bright, New Jersey was swarming with people of all ages. It seemed like everyone was outside enjoying the full moon and the unofficial last Friday evening of summer.

It was a beautiful evening for sure.  The sky was clear, the humidity was low, there was a cool breeze off the ocean, and there was a gorgeous full moon rising over the water.

The full moon rise came in the early evening, just as many people were coming home from work. It was so impressive as it rose over the Atlantic Ocean, near the entrance to New York Harbor. The full moon isn't always like this though. It was no ordinary moon. This was a blue moon.

Both the last day of August and the unofficial last Friday of summer this year ended with what many people dubbed as a blue moon. Although the moon wasn't actually colored blue, it was a rare and unusual sight. 

Blue moons occur when there’s a second full moon in the same calendar month.  While they’re fairly predictable, we only see them every few years.  After Friday’s, we won’t see another blue moon until July 2015.

Particularly special about this blue moon is that it has come so close after the death of Neil Armstrong, the first person ever to walk on the moon. He died on August 25th at the age of 82. This brilliantly clear full moon seemed like a fitting tribute to Neil Armstrong from the space gods.

In fact, Armstrong’s family has suggested that people wishing to pay tribute to him should look up at the blue moon and give the late astronaut a wink. A pleasant and fitting way to honor an extraordinary man.

Moles in the Sand Near NY Harbor

The other day I was out enjoying the beach at Sea Bright, a small seaside community located on the northern Jersey Shore and near to the entrance to Lower New York Bay. Waves were splashing, gulls were gliding, and ships were sailing in the distance. Water temperatures near the ocean beach were in the low 70s. It was a beautiful, sunny late summer day. 

(An adult Mole Crab recently found on the ocean-side beach at Sea Bright, NJ)

While wading in the warm ocean waters, something caught my attention up on the beach, close to where the waves were breaking. A little pale-gray colored critter, only a few inches long and shaped like a tiny egg. It was busy digging in the wet sand as the waves rolled in. What could this be? 

After a few attempts, I ultimately corralled the little living thing in my shell bucket as it popped out of the sand. It was a Mole Crab! Also known as a Sand Crab. Even though these crabs are numerous on ocean-side beaches, many people don't see these guys very often.

So I couldn't help myself. I didn't stop with just one crab. This little critter peaked my interest. I started searching for more Mole Crabs. Scooping up piles of sand with my hand, I found a few more. Some were adults and some were juveniles, smaller than a pea and sand-colored. The young Mole Crabs were probably just born this year. Eggs are hatched in the ocean where free-swimming larvae are pelagic  and can be transported long distances by ocean currents.  Juveniles then wash up on the beach to begin their life as a crab living in the wet sand. What a fascinating and beautiful sea creature existing so close to New York Harbor. 

(A small juvenile Mole Crab)

Mole Crabs are well-suited to live with the rough surf, pounding waves, and erratic tides within the edge of the ocean near New York City. Not many animal can, but Mole Crabs are tough. Their egg-shaped , compact body  allows them to move quickly into the sand and bury themselves before the next wave hits. Using its legs, the crab will burrow backwards into the sand during an incoming wave with its head pointed upward facing the surf to look for food.

Unlike many other crabs found in or near Lower New York Bay, Mole Crabs do not have claws to pinch or threaten with. Instead these crabs are herbivores, feeding on small microscopic species of plankton including dinoflagellates and diatoms. When a wave goes out, it curls its large, feathery antennae backward and uses it as a net to capture the plankton. The food is scraped from the antennae by a  specialized, brush-like appendage and then carried to the mouth where it is ingested. 

(A Mole Crab diagram from Lippson & Lippson, Life in the Chesapeake Bay)

Of course, when it is not feeding, then the little crab is making sure it is not food. Mole Crabs are tasty fare for gulls, a variety of shorebirds, and even fish.

Yet, soon all the Mole Crabs will be gone. They will begin their fall migration to set off from the edge of the ocean. The egg-shaped crabs will retreat to deeper offshore waters where they will retire for the winter and hopefully return next summer to delight beachgoers of all ages near New York Harbor.

Diamondbacks Slowly Come Back to NY Harbor

Something must be working well. This summer I have been seeing numerous Northern Diamondback Terrapins alive and well either sauntering or swimming around the northern coastal region of Monmouth County, NJ, from the Navesink River to Matawan Creek in Cliffwood Beach, downstream from the busy streets of New York City. 

(An adult male Northern Diamondback Terrapin recently found in a crab pot in the Navesink River and released back into the water)

This is big news to me. As a kid growing up near the beach in the 70s and 80s it was extremely rare just to catch a glimpse of one terrapin. Now to have the opportunity to watch more than a few is downright exciting.

Diamondback Terrapins are amazing little water turtles. They are the only turtle species in North America to live exclusively in brackish water (a mixture of fresh and salt water). They can be found in coastal marshes, tidal creeks, estuaries, bays and coves. No other turtle along the East Coast and Gulf Coast of the U.S can live in these shallow tidal waters. Terrapins spend their entire life influenced by tides. 

Historically, Diamondbacks were only rarely seen in the summer months when females searched for nest sites, often along the sandy shoulders of out-of-the-way coastal roads, and when juveniles crossed a road or parking lot to access ditches or estuarine creeks. Terrapins sightings were for the most part uncommon, because the population fell to dangerously low levels in the early 1900s after a long period of large-scale harvesting for their meat and extensive habitat loss from coastal development.

The tide seems to be slowly turning now. Just the other day, I was kayaking in Claypit Creek, a tributary of the Navesink River near the Oceanic Bridge, during high tide. After paddling a bit I started to see what looked like six dinner plates on a branch surfacing out of the water. Paddling closer, the plates in fact turned out to be half-a-dozen Diamondback Terrapins basking in the warm sunlight.. They all had polka-dot skin with diamond -like circular patterns on their scutes situated on top of their gray to brownish-black shells.

Paddling closer to get a better look and trying to take a few pictures, they regrettably all jumped back into the water just as I got my camera in focus. As I paddled farther upstream, though, I started to see the heads of other emerging Diamondback Terrapins as they were coming up for a breath of air. I saw one, then another, and another until finally I spotted a dozen or more terrapins swimming and possibly foraging on the abundance of estuarine life here including Blue-claw Crabs, Fiddler Crabs, mussels, marine worms, or small fish. The tidal waters must have been buzzing with activity. A terrapin style clambake near the shores of the Navesink!  

This sighting on top of other terrapins I saw this past spring, both hatchlings and females nesting, has made me want to consider the Diamondback Terrapin population is increasing in northern Monmouth County. I am not alone either in thinking this. Recently, local crabbers in the Navesink River have expressed frustration at catching more terrapins in their pots than in years past. Frustration because terrapins are attracted to the same baits used to lure blue crabs in crab pots. If not released soon, air-breathing terrapins will eventually drown in a submerged crab pot. The loss of adult terrapins in crab pots is believed to be a main cause of population declines in many parts of their range. Almost all deaths in crab pots can be prevented, however, by equipping  traps with turtle excluders, which allows large crabs to enter and keeps adult terrapins out.

(The terrapin goes back into the water)

Yet, something must be up. Last year, on June 29th, several planes were delayed and the runway was temporarily closed at John F. Kennedy International Airport as 150 Diamondback Terrapins, mostly females, walked across one of the runways from Jamaica Bay to nesting grounds in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. An amazing natural sight with the Manhattan skyline in the distance. In 2009, the same runway was closed due to the same event occurring by 78 diamondback terrapins.

It's really hard to tell for sure if the terrapin population is doing well around Lower New York Bay or not. There are few exiting scientific studies to show how the terrapin population is doing in this suburban-urban region. One study completed in the early 2000s by Dr. Russell Burke and others from Hofstra University suggested that the only known major terrapin nesting areas in New York Harbor were in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge and at Sandy Hook NRA. There does not seem to be any other studies to show if the Navesink River, Sandy Hook Bay, or Raritan Bay, not even on the Staten Island side of Raritan Bay, have a robust terrapin population. Very disappointing.

Of course it's not easy for any wild animal to live in or near New York Harbor, and the same is true for Diamondback Terrapins. The busy and bustling waters of the harbor can be very stressful place for little water turtles. Factors causing declines in terrapin populations include the loss of salt marsh habitat and destruction of nesting beaches due to waterfront development, road mortalities of nesting females, boat strikes, excessive predation by raccoons, and continued harvesting for meat by some people. In many parts of their geographic range Diamondback Terrapin are listed as endangered, threatened, or species of special concern. The species is currently classified as a "special concern" in New Jersey.  

The fact that the current status of the Northern Diamondback population throughout much of Lower New York Bay and its tributaries is unknown suggests strongly that more research is needed quickly here before the population crashes due to poor planning. While terrapins are tolerant of some pollution, the struggle these little turtles face today are countless.

Yet I'm hopeful that with proper protection and education, the Lower New York Bay population of Diamondback Terrapins will be large, stable, and bright.  There are few things in life more exciting than to see a live little Diamondback with the towing skyscrapers of New York City in the background. It is a striking sight, hopefully not too rare.  

 

You can help protect the Diamondback Terrapin population by supporting the protection, conservation, and restoration of salt marsh habitat in both New Jersey and New York. If you are a boater, navigate carefully in tidal creeks, rivers, and coves, where large numbers of terrapins may gather in late spring to mate at the water’s surface. While driving on coastal roads in June and July, be aware of any turtles that may be crossing the road to nest. If you see a turtle crossing the road, move it to the side that it's headed, if it is safe for you to do so. Do not collect or take the turtle to a "safer" place. All turtles should stay in the wild.

Bottlenose Dolphins Spotted in Navesink River, NJ

Dolphins spotted swimming in Navesink River
Published: Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 6:50 PM    
Updated: Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 6:53 PM
By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
NJ.com

Four dolphins have been spotted swimming in the Navesink River, according to a report on NBCNewYork.com.

The dolphins, which were first spotted last week, appeared in the river over the weekend and then again Tuesday, when they were seen in waters west of the Oceanic Bridge connecting Rumson and Middletown, the report said.

The National Marine Fisheries Service said they will not let citizens drive the dolphins back out to sea, despite concerns that their fate may be similar to another pack who entered the river in 2008 and saw much of their population die by October.

NBC also spoke to a fisherman who said he had seen a multitude of dolphins off the coast of Sandy Hook.

At least five Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have been spotted in the Navesink River mostly in an area west of the Oceanic Bridge between Middletown and the Oceanic Marina in Rumson. It was in 2008 when a pod of about a dozen appeared in the same location likely because they are finding plenty of baitfish to feed on. There is some concern about the dolphins not making it back out to the ocean. In 2008, many of the pod did not leave and died in the river by October.

Moon Jelly Washes Up Near NY Harbor

You never know what you will find when walking along the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The other day, while visiting after work a lesser used  beach in Sea Bright, a small seaside community on the upper New Jersey coast not far from the entrance to New York Harbor, I discovered a mysterious animal that must have washed up on the shoreline from the early afternoon high tide.

 

It was weird looking for sure. The critter was clear and transparent. I even took pictures of people as they looked through it. The animal was a small disk-shaped, hardened blob, the size of a small plate, about 4 inches in diameter. It felt like a hard-boiled jellyfish, but there weren't any long stinging tentacles to be found. Could this have been some creepy, clear creature from the deep ocean?

In fact, what I had turned up was a recently deceased Moon Jellyfish, one of the most common jellyfishes to be found in the ocean near New York and New Jersey. Normally, when these jellyfish wash up on a beach they appear as a disk-shaped, hardened plate. The most durable remains of this strange sea creature. Gone are their numerous long, thread-like arms called tentacles, which branch out and float underwater to entangle free floating plankton in the water column, which they eat.

Don't worry, Moon Jellyfish do not harm or hurt people. Its stinging cells are relatively gentle to humans. Often people swim with these jellyfish in the water without any bother. Once in awhile a person might experience a mild stinging sensation on the skin if stung, but the prickliness is brief.  

Moon Jellyfishes are an important natural and wild animal near New York Harbor. They are likely to be found near the surface of the open ocean. This is where the highest concentration of plankton is located. It is here where Moon Jellies feed on zooplankton, primarily on young mollusks, worms, diatoms, fish larvae, crustaceans, and several other species of small plankton. 

Moon Jellyfish are prey as well. Floating near the surface of the water makes them susceptible to being eaten by various species of fish and sea turtles. Yet, I can't imagine a Moon Jelly being a very nourishing meal. Moon Jellyfish are 95% water and they don't possess a brain, heart, blood, head, eyes, ears, or even gills. It receives oxygen freely by diffusion through its thin external membrane. Moon Jellyfish are basically a floating mouth and digestive system with a body shaped like a saucer, hence its other name, the saucer jelly. 

Still, Moon Jellyfish are jellyfish. As such, they are not strong swimmers. They can only move in one direction. More often than not they just drift with water currents. This limited ability to control their whereabouts means they are vulnerable to being washed ashore by tides and strong winds. This is what must have happened to the poor jelly in my hand.

Fortunately, for people who like seeing their wildlife alive, the New York Aquarium in Coney Island has a beautiful large aquarium with dozens of living Moon Jellyfish to observe. As they float around inside the tank you cannot help but wonder how something so primitive and pretty can survive in the busy and bustling waters near New York Harbor.