Weird Creatures of Sandy Hook Bay

It is the last full weekend of October; and the weekend before Halloween. 

(A living Red Beard Sponge found this summer in local estuarine waters. Notice how it has encrusted itself to a hard clam shell)

Last night, I could hear the faint chafing call of one last katydid outside my bedroom window. When I woke this morning the sounds in my backyard were certainly that of winter. There were sharp buzzing tzeeet calls of Dark-eyed Juncos and the chatter of White-throated Sparrows heading south. What's more, a light coating of frost on my pumpkin a few days ago and shortening daylight everyday  are reminding me of the looming change in the seasons, the Bayshore region is moving from summer to winter swiftly now. Time to get the flannels out!

After a dreary day of rain yesterday, today dawned into a glorious autumn day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear blue, a gusty breeze is arousing the trees, and the leaves are turning color. Morning air temperatures are in the 50s and water temperatures are a close match in the low 60s to mid 50s.

Yet, the beautiful day was not to be trusted. The usual autumn mix of marine critters in the Sandy Hook Bay estuary was nowhere to be found today. After spending an afternoon with friends sampling and exploring the edge of the bay with a seine net, the results were little. Even though the tide was flowing in and a breezy wind out of the north was helping to thrust the tide towards the shoreline, there just wasn't much to be counted. The haul produced a few Silversides, a couple dozen Sand Shrimp, one adult Lady Crab, and quite a few very small Comb jellies. Nothing discovered to get thrilled about.

(A weird looking worm that is common in the bay is the Clam Worm. It has many paddle-shaped parapodia for crawling in the sand)

This is the thing about seining though, every day is different. Some days a seine net can be filled with a diversity of marine life, like a child's Halloween bag that is bursting with different types of candy. Whereas other days may make you feel like the famous cartoon character Charlie Brown when all he got one Halloween night was a bag full of rocks.  Then again, I really shouldn't be disappointed today.  Most aquatic critters by now are preparing for winter and are either migrating out of the estuary or getting ready for their dormant phase. Nonetheless, there was not much of a thrill on this last weekend before Halloween.

As many people thoughts turn to costumes and enjoying a night out of fun and foolery on October 31, my thoughts on the end of October turn to some of the really weird critters I observed this past summer.

(It is hard to figure the name of this weird looking critter, but it is a well disguised Spider Crab)

Fall marks the slow end of another great summer of seining and kayaking activity in Sandy Hook Bay and Raritan Bay. At the same time as the Summer Flounder and Summer Skate depart the bay to be replaced by their winter counterparts, I start to hark back to some of the really wild and weird critters found these last several months. Now I am not just thinking about some hideous looking Oyster Toadfish. I mean some really weird and wild blood suckers, freaks, or Frankenstein looking sea creatures of the deep.

Take for example a simple sponge. Ask any kid to name a sponge found in the water and she/he will tell you with a big smile- Sponge Bob! Yet, believe it or not, there are some really weird looking sponges living right in our local estuarine waters. Sponges are some of the most primitive and unique organisms in the water. There are about 5,000 species known to scientists throughout the world. Perhaps one of the weirdest looking sponges locally is the Red Beard Sponge. This critter is not like that momma's boy Sponge Bob. This critter is tough and hardy. The Red Beard Sponge is able to withstand polluted waters, which is helpful, since we live downstream of New York City. The Red Beard Sponge comes in a brightly blood red color and is an encrusting sponge, which means that they envelop their host completely, such as a shell, rock, or the lower level of a piling. Don't worry though, this sponge is harmless to humans and actually helps to clean up the water by being a filter feeding animal.

(A Smooth Dogfish Shark found dead over the summer on the beach in Port Monmouth)

Possibly the most grotesque creature I found this summer in the bay was a small Spider Crab. To my surprise, what I thought was a large piece of weird looking algae was actually an ugly spider-like crab with very long thin legs. After the initial shocker of having a live Spider Crab in my hand, I was reminded by the words of my high school biology teacher who told me once that Spider Crabs are harmless to humans and not particularly aggressive in general, the Spider Crab's main defense against predators is camouflage: the hook-like hairs on the crab's shell and legs hold algae and other small debris in place. The crab uses its claws to collect, cut, and shape stuff, such as sponges or algae, and then arranges them in a disguised manner. So, if there was an award for best camouflaged crab, then this critter would win, hands down. Luckily for me, Spider Crabs are sluggish animals and are scavengers of dead flesh from fish, Sea Stars, and mollusks. I was happy to plunk that critter back in the bay.

Certainly, the biggest surprise and the biggest sea creature I discovered this past summer in the bay was a medium size, Smooth Dogfish Shark. I discovered it washed up dead on a beach in Port Monmouth. I am not sure what or who killed it, but I can honestly say that this was the first time I ever looked really close for a long period of time at a shark's face. Even though the poor critter was deceased, the appearance was still a bit creepy. I am not even talking about the look of "dead" eyes that most sharks have. I mean this one shark is a representative of whole family of diverse sharks that call Sandy Hook Bay and Raritan Bay home. To name a few, there are Basking Sharks, Sandbar Sharks, Thrasher Sharks, and even the occasional Bull Shark, which is one of the most deadly and dangerous sharks in the world, as it has been known to attack humans. Fortunately, the dogfish is one of the gentlest fish around, except if you are a fish, crab, clam, or squid. By this time of year, the dogfish sharks are departing the area when the water starts to cool and won't return until the water temperature rises above 50 degrees.

(What would be Halloween without a bat? Here is a Little Brown Bat found last fall. It is a common flying mammal in the Bayshore region)

Walking up the long beach at Sandy Hook today and thinking back to the many weird and wonderful sea critters I observed this summer I am often driven to deem that the only real wild spaces and untamed places left in this little over-developed region of the world is water. Surrounding wide estuarine waters and the nearby roar of the Atlantic Ocean continually answers my need for wilderness.

The real scary outlook then for me this Halloween is the thought that an estimated 10 million people live near or upstream of Sandy Hook Bay, with more expected in the future. Will the bay and ocean waters remain a wonderful wild place to explore during my lifetime and into the future?  Will the bay and ocean remain a dreamlike edge where land meets the water, and the world seems to come alive? I sit on the sands of the bay listening to the heave and splash of the waves thrashing the coast, and dearly hope so.