Researcher Bob Zook (orange) shows of SCINI at last year’s Open House. This year, come see SCINI actually get in the water!
How would you study the ocean in Antarctica that is covered in ice? How about building a robot that can explore the frigid water that you cannot! That’s excatly what the Benthic Lab at MLML has done with their SCINI, the “skinny” robot that could! SCINI is an ROV, or Remotely Operated Vehicle, and it’s name stands for “Submersible Capable of under Ice Navigation and Imaging.” SCINI can help scientists take pictures of marine organisms living in a pretty inhospitable place.
At this year’s Open House, you will the rare treat of watching this ROV in action! Come see how scientists drive and maneuver this robot in the water to help them do their research. Plus, it will be a lot warmer than a field day in Antarctica!
Open House should give you ample opportunities to appreciate how amazing marine creatures are – but they’re even more spectacular when they dance and sing! You won’t want to miss the Open House puppet show, no matter what your age. Check out last year’s video so you can see what all the hype is about. This year’s show is sure to be a success, with it’s tributes to Harry Potter, the Lion King, and good ol’ Charles Darwin. How will we pull it off? Come to one of the showings, at 10:30, 12:30 or 2:30 on Saturday and Sunday to find out!
At MLML, we study not just the marine environment, but the interface where the land meets the sea. The construction of our current lab facility included the restoration of the surrounding beach dune habitat. At this year’s Open House, the MLML Central Coastal Wetlands Group will be giving 30 minute tours the beach dunes, starting at 10 am and 2 pm both Saturday and Sunday.
These tours will include fun information about our fascinating location, from dune restoration efforts and wildlife such as legless lizards, to Native American history and the excavation of Native middens on our lab site. The poppies and lupine are in full bloom, painting our hillside in splahes of purple and gold. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience this beautiful coastal habitat for yourself!
What does a gumboot chiton feel like? Come to the touch tank to find out!
Holy bat stars! Are you ready to get up close and personal with some wet and wild sea creatures? The Open House touch tank, hosted by the Invertebrate Zoology Lab, is a must-see. We’ll have crabs, snails, sponges – and even some deep-sea sea stars that you won’t get to see anywhere else! It just wouldn’t be a marine lab without some live critters roaming around. So let us bring the ocean to you – come check out just what these animals need to live under the sea!
Dr. Diana Stellar shared the ins and outs of scientific diving during a seminar at last year's Open House
What better way to learn about marine science than straight from the scientist’s mouth? Open House is your chance to hear MLML students and faculty present talks on a number of exicitng topics, including sharks, seaturtles, kelp and ROVs. Each seminar will be about 20 minutes, with 10 minutes of Q&A, so bring those questions you’ve always wanted to ask!
Here is the current schedule:
Saturday April 25th
11:00 Danielle Frechette – Where have all the salmon gone? The role of predation in Central California watersheds 11:30 Erin Loury – So You Want to be a Marine Scientist…the Inside Scoop 12:00 Nate Jones – Seabird Foraging in the Bering Sea, Alaska 1:00 Thew Suskiewicz – You Are What You Eat: Farming Abalone with Seaweed in Monterey Bay 1:30 Dr. Jim Harvey – Leatherback turtles eating jellyfish off California 2:00 Paul Tompkins – Into the Blue: Marine Science Diving at MLML
Sunday April 26th
11:00 Dr. Dave Ebert – Beyond Jaws: Shark Biodiversity & Conservation 11:30 Erin Loury – So You Want to be a Marine Scientist…the Inside Scoop 12:00 Kyle Demes – Kelp: shape matters 1:00 Dr. Greg Cailliet – Extraordinary Fishes of the Abyss! 1:30 Dr. Stacy Kim – Getting SCINI in Antarctica: diving a Remotely Operated Vehicle under the sea ice 2:00 Paul Tompkins – Into the Blue: Marine Science Diving at MLML
For all you regular Drop-In readers, this is your chance to meet Nate Jones in person and hear all about his work studying seabirds in the Bering Sea. Check out his blog posts to brush up before you come!
These beautiful items could be yours! Buy your tickets for the opportunity drawing at Open House!
Students at MLML pride ourselves on our ability to provide you wonderful access to our labs and activities for free during Open House. A chance for you to show your support for the efforts and research of our students is to buy tickets for our opportunity drawing! We have received dozens of wonderful donations that will be yours to win. The list includes artwork, scuba gear, kyak and surf rentals, whale watching passes, and a wide assortment of gift certificates to restaurants and hotels in the Monterey Bay area. Jewelrey, books, gift baskets – we’ll have it all! Bring your wallet to ensure you won’t leave empty-handed. One lucky person will walk away with this gorgeous photograph by Jason Bradley, fresh off disply at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History:
This exquisite photograph by Jason Bradley is yours to win. It depicts a brittle star from the MLML museum collection! (valued at $400)
Ticket prices will be:
5 tickets for $5
15 tickets for $10
40 tickets for $20
You need not be present to win. Your ticket purchases are our number one source of income – please help us make Open House a successful fundraiser to support the efforts of the MLML student body!
Knowledgable grad students will be on hand at Open House to answer your questions about our animals on display!
When’s the last time you looked a Steller sea lion in the eye? Or used your armspan to measure a robust clubhook squid? When you come to Open House at MLML on April 25 and 26, you’ll be amazed by the sheer size of the specimens we have on display. Come get a good look at a whale skull or a sea turtle shell. Did you know that we get sea turtle visitors in Monterey Bay? Stop by the vertebrate ecology lab to learn which species!
Which whale species did this this jaw come from and where is it hanging in the labs?
Did you know that seaweed is not only in your sushi, but in your ice cream too? The phycology lab will be dishing up this sweet treat for free at Open House to show off the wonderful thickening properties of an algae-derived carbohydrate (What is it called? You’ll just have to stop by to find out!).
Now entering the kelp forest! Come grab some ice cream - and learn how algae helps make it so delicious!
They will also have fun activities like seaweed printing and pressing, and a grab bag to let you try your hand at algae identification! Come and learn all about the amazing adaptations plants have to survive in their marine environment that is so different from land!
One of the most popular events at open house is fish printing! You won’t want to miss a chance to make a piece of this beautiful artwork (called gyotaku in Japanese). And those slippery fish can be full of surprises – watch the video and read Ben’s account below of the unexpected “special delivery” at last year’s fish printing!
Ben Perlman
by Ben Perlman, Ichthyology Lab
Most species of fishes lay eggs – but did you know that some species actually give birth to live young? That’s right! Some fishes, like the surfperches, give birth to little babies that look just like their parents. Of course, they are a lot smaller! Fishes that give birth in this form are called “viviparous.” That fancy word means “live bearer.”
Surfperches live all along the coast of California in just about every marine habitat, including one species that lives in freshwater rivers and streams. I’m studying how surfperches swim for my thesis at MLML. You can find these guys swimming around the kelp forest, hiding next to a pier piling or in the slough, hovering over rocky reefs, and especially in the surf zone. So I guess naming this family of fishes the “surf” perches was a pretty good idea. Cowabunga, dudes and dudettes!
Come make yourself a painted masterpiece at MLML Open House!
Here at the Moss Landing Marine Labs Open House, coming up on April 25th and 26th, you never know what amazing scientific discoveries you’ll stumble upon. Last year at our popular fish printing activity, two young ladies were painting the top of a barred surfperch and were ready to put a piece of paper on top of it to press down and make their very own masterpiece. As the girls were pressing down on the fish, to their incredible surprise and everyone around them, little babies popped out of the fish! Lots of ooohs and aaahs echoed around the lab! A couple of other kids said “How cool” or Wow, I never knew that little fishies came out like that!”
I was able to take that opportunity to help explain this unique characteristic about how surfperches give birth. So who knows what will happen this year at our Open House? Come on down and make some new discoveries! See ya there!
Open House is a free event that's great for the whole family!
Spring is in the air, and the energy buzzing around the lab has been cranked up a notch or three. There can only be one explanation – it’s time for MLML’s annual Open House on April 25th and 26th! In three short weeks (19 days, to be exact!) Moss Landing Marne Labs will throw its doors open wide and invite you for a visit!
Open House is one of the best ways for you to get up close and personal with the ocean environment, and the many ways of studying it. Come meet our passionate graduate students, world-renowned faculty and dedicated staff who are so excited to share our scientific discoveries with you!
Join us for a hands-on weekend of marine science!
There are so many cool things to see, from seminars and puppet shows, to live animals and dune tours, that the only way to cover them all is a snazzy countdown! So keep reading the Drop-In during the next three weeks as we share the Top Ten Reasons to Visit MLML Open House, and get you pumped up for all the things you won’t want to miss!
MLML OPEN HOUSE
SATURDAY and SUNDAY
APRIL 25TH and APRIL 26TH 2009
9:00am-5:00pm
