Diamondback Terrapins: A Girl’s Best Turtle
We have all heard of turtles and tortoises, but have you heard of a terrapin? The Diamondback terrapin is a beautiful reptile with skin spotted like a Dalmatian and scutes, which are the bony plates on the shell, that are shaped like diamonds. What makes terrapins so unique is their preferred habitat: brackish water. Brackish […]
A Dune’s Duties
Sand dunes are significant players in the game of healthy coastal environments. While we have fencing around the dunes on Dead Neck Sampson Island for the nesting shorebirds, we also do it to protect the dunes that are protecting the surrounding ecosystem. Have you ever been on a boat in the bays and notice the […]
What’s Your Preference? Soft-shelled or Hard-shelled Clams?
If you don’t know, that’s normal. There is actually very little difference in taste when preparing a clam based meal. But besides both being bivalve mollusk, there are quite a few differences. Steamers, or Soft-shelled clams, have quite thin, white grey shells. With their oval-like body, they will burrow into the sandy mud of the […]
Eelgrass: Where Did it All Go?
Decades ago, Cape Cod’s coastal ecosystems looked very different than they do today. The decline in eelgrass, an aquatic plant, gained very little attention and unfortunately the lack of eelgrass today has had a major impact on this aquatic region. Why is eelgrass important? It’s luscious green body provides homes for shellfish and juvenile fish […]
The Living Fossil of the Ocean
What species has been roaming the earth for more than 445 million years and still has significant importance in today’s modern society? They have the word crab in their name but actually are more closely related to spiders. If you have already figured out that we are talking about the infamous Horseshoe crab, you are […]
Sea Sponges, Anemones, Tunicates Galore!
The next time you visit a boat dock, and you want to see some new organisms, lay down on your belly and look to see what is attached along the side of the dock. Throughout Barnstable, there are a variety of colorful plant-like structures creating small ecosystems for small invertebrates like shrimp, crabs, and scallops. […]
Are You an Invasive Crab?
One cannot spend a summer on Cape Cod enjoying the beaches and islands without running into one of the tiniest and mightiest animals in the area: CRABS! The master of camouflage, most people don’t even realize that they are next to one until they decide to move to a new hiding spot. What people also […]
Bioreactor Cranberry Bogs
On July 28th, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency, The Nature Conservancy, and Mount Holyoke College to install a woodchip-based bioreactor in an existing ditch in Hamblin’s Cranberry Bog. What we are hoping to achieve is the nutrient content reduction of water that comes to the surface before it reaches the […]
Who are those people in those waders?
The Marstons Mills River is the connection between our groundwater and the Three Bays Estuary. Because of this, BCWC water sampling assistant and water stewards focus on monitoring the chemical makeup and waterflow at multiple points along the river once a week. We do this by taking small bottle water samples that are then sent […]
Willets: Determined to Thrive
Out on Deadneck/Sampson’s Island, fencing lines the majority of the center of the island for declining coastal bird species like the Piping Plovers and the Least Terns. There is one other bird species that has found the protected area a perfect place for them to lay their eggs and that would be the Willet. Today, […]