News and Events for Nantucket Island
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • We pulled up a common resident of our harbors the other day while doing a dredge for our Marine Ecology class off Pocomo Point. Scattered amongst the spider crabs and scallops and loose eelgrass and algae […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • The name of this week’s article sounds like an awesome indie horror film doesn’t it? Well ghost crabs are here and probably here to stay on Nantucket. Thanks to the eagle eyes of Manomet Center for […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • This week’s title comes from the British tradition adopted in New England to say “rabbit” or “rabbits” several times in succession or “white rabbit” upon first waking on the first day of the month in order […]
As we finish celebrating our country’s birth as a nation, everyone is in a patriotic mood and what could be more patriotic than, the American Eel. Okay, I am sure you can think of something more patriotic, but this is a nature column. We have an adorable baby eel swimming […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • I just got back from the Nantucket Film Festival’s (NFF) showing of “Blackfish”, an excellent and provocative documentary describing in excruciating detail the many issues of keeping Killer Whales (Orcinus orca) in captivity. The majority of […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • Last week we talked about erosional processes around the island. This week I thought we would thank our lucky salt marshes and the harbor itself for the protection from Coatue and barrier beaches such as the […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • There is perhaps no other topic concerning Nantucket that is more of a hot button issue than erosion. All around the island we are experiencing between 0.74 to 12.0+ feet of erosion on our beaches and […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station • As a washashore myself, I hope I am a little more welcome than this week’s creature. Two weeks ago, two Clean Team volunteers helping out on a Madaket Beach clean-up (www.ackcleanteam.org) came upon a relatively common […]
Today’s subject could easily be the star of a B horror movie from the 50’s. Several people have asked me about them lately so let’s jump in and discover which creature uses polarizing light special effects, employs biochemical weapons and advanced scent trails, lies quietly over winter, then pops out […]
